Temporary Insanity
by Sinister Scribe
Summary: Wilson hatches a plan and sends House and Cuddy away on holiday together. Rated for language and adult themes. Don't like, don't read. Finally finished. no epilogue. cannae b bothered.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this just came to me, I don't know how and I don't know why but it just spewed out of the keyboard and gave me a fit of the giggles so I thought I'd post it and share with y'all. **

**It will, eventually, be based on a romance novel that I once read and take pieces from a fantastic CSI fanfic that is on adultfanciction. **

**Anyways, there will be some totally wacked elements in this and it does rely a lot on the help of strangers because it's something I've always wanted to write about. Some of the best things that have ever happened to me have happened because of chance encounters, accidents and the help of people I've never met before and have never seen since. So I just thought I'd give it a whirl. **

**I am going to try and keep them more in character than I usually do and Wilson will probably make more appearances than usual but logic will be slightly suspended at some points. **

**SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! NO COMPLAINTS HALFWAY DOWN THE LINE! **

**Oh yeah, I don't own any of them just taken and shaken and put back a lot happier than they were before. **

**Chapter 1: Something Must Be Done**

"Dr Wilson, mail for you."

Wilson turned at the sound of Brenda's voice and accepted the neat pile of envelopes that she handed over with a smile of thanks. He dropped his charts onto the desk and rifled through the envelopes to see if anything of interest jumped out at him. He frowned as he came upon an envelope bearing the insignia of his travel agent. He ripped it open and let the contents slop onto the desk, scanning through them with an interested tilt to his brow.

"Dr House!"

Wilson looked up as the strident tones of Dr Cuddy reached his ears. He then looked over to see House standing behind a supplies cart trying desperately to blend in with the cream wall and stabbing the elevator's call button frantically with his cane.

House looked around desperately for anything that might suffice as a suitable distraction. Wilson quickly buried his nose in his mail and tried to look like anything but a distraction.

"Wilson, old buddy, old pal!" House shouted to him as he limped towards the desk.

Too late.

Wilson sighed and looked over the travel agent's letterhead as House made a bee line for him. Cuddy simply heaved a fortifying sigh and changed course to intercept House at the nurse's station. Wilson swallowed a groan as they both descended on him.

Why did he always end up in the middle of these little spats?

Wilson lent on the countertop and decided to just batten down the hatches and wait the storm out.

"Cover for me." House stage whispered to his friend as he sidled up to the younger doctor.

Wilson whisked his fingers out of the way just in time as Cuddy slammed the folder she'd been toting down on the desk with enough force to make Wilson fear for the state of the furniture. She rounded on House and planted her hands on her hips as her eyes flashed in palpable anger. Rage rolled from her like electricity off an approaching storm front. Wilson felt a sudden sympathy for House.

Then again, if House didn't like the way she yelled at him, he wouldn't do half of the things that he did just to get on her nerves.

Wilson had had a dog like that when he was younger. It had loved to poke its eye onto his finger. It was a totally disgusting experience for Wilson or whoever else had been unfortunate enough to experience it but his mother had informed him that if the dog didn't like it then he wouldn't do it.

Yup, House was just as twisted as that scruffy lanky mongrel from the pound. Bore an uncanny resemblance as well, now that he thought on it.

"House, _why_ did you feel the need to introduce yourself to Mr Carson? I just got off the phone to him telling me al about you charming if a little impromptu meeting last night." Cuddy's voice was low and dangerous and those that were close enough to recognise that tone backed away hurriedly. Cuddy squared off to the much larger House without so much as a flicker of her long lashes.

House tilted his head with a wolfish grin, clearly not above enjoying the way her chest heaved in her anger. "So you think he's charming?"

Wilson resisted the strong urge to slap them both upside the head with his mail and settled for reading aforementioned correspondences instead. He scanned the rest of the letter and arched a brow as he took in the contents.

It was from his travel agents, giving him the final details about a holiday that he had bought a few months ago for Julie's and his anniversary. He felt a sudden pang for the loss of his marriage and tapped the airline tickets against his palm as he considered what to do with them, to cancel this late would be doing him out of a considerable amount of money.

"What I really don't understand is why you had to tell him that I had a habit of 'putting out' to donors who gave especially large sums of money to the hospital." Cuddy hissed dangerously and Wilson worked harder at tuning them both out.

He flickered a glance at Cuddy and frowned at the state of her. She looked nearly incandescent with rage. She even shook slightly and her face had gone quite pale as she hissed at House through gritted teeth. She looked only a hair away from bludgeoning House to death with his own cane.

House didn't look much better as he moved to within inches of her and drew himself to his full towering height, forcing her to crane her neck up to look at him in the eye.

Wilson's frown deepened as he watched the insults fly back and forth between the two with gradually increasing ferocity. Seriously, all this repressed sexuality was making him quite ill. It was getting worse and not making his work environment a healthy one, he mused as he watched the fireworks dispassionately and shook his head subtly to a resident who looked like she was thinking about approaching Cuddy.

Best to give them both a wide berth when they were like this.

Wilson settled his chin on his hand and narrowed his eyes. Someone should really just drug the two of them and then lock them in the nearest steel-lined room until they…

Wilson went perfectly still as a small deliciously devious idea planted itself in the back of his mind. He ignored it a few moments more as it took root and germinated into a fully fledged sapling of Machiavellian planning that would have done even House proud.

A slow scheming smile kicked at Wilson's lips as he watched his two friends still deep in the thrall of their argument.

"So what are you really annoyed about? The fact that I said you would put out or the fact that you were planning on doing it anyway and now you can't at the risk of looking like a really expensive hooker?"

Wilson blinked at the acid in House's voice at that last barb. That was really below the belt, no pun intended, and much more vicious than any of their usual banter. Wilson stood as Cuddy's arm tightened, he stepped between them and looked down at Cuddy.

"At the risk of sounding professional; perhaps this, ahem, discussion is better suited to another time." He moved subtly and forced Cuddy to take a step backwards, he could feel the tension level in the lobby drop as the fury faded from Cuddy's eyes. "Can I speak to you in your office?" Wilson asked politely as he could muster.

Cuddy jerked her head once in assent and then spun away on one designer heel before stalking away with a swish of her hips. House looked over Wilson's shoulder with a tilt of his head and a look of male appreciation in his eyes as he watched her go.

"Thanks." He muttered to Wilson. He stepped back with a surprised frown falling onto his brow as Wilson turned to him with an uncharacteristic look of fury in his light brown eyes.

"I didn't do it for you." He snapped before he followed Cuddy with a snap of his lab coat.

House scowled. Fine, pick on him then.

He limped to the elevator as the nurses heaved a collective sigh of relief and went about their daily business.

Wilson threw open the door to Cuddy's office in a way that he would admit was a teeny bit House-ish and stood with his hands on his hips as he regarded the rigid line of his boss's spine.

"You mind telling me what the hell just happened?" He demanded, too pissed at the both of them to remind himself that this was his boss.

"You heard the entire conversation, you know what it was about." Cuddy spoke without turning and if he wasn't mistaken she was actually shaking with anger.

"No. This was different, you were going to hit him." Wilson accused and that had her spinning to face him.

"I was not!" She defended herself hotly.

Wilson snorted. "Yeah right, I've been slapped by enough women to recognise the signs of when she's about to do it. You wanted to take his head off."

Cuddy threaded her arms across her chest and scowled but said no more to deny it. What was the point? He was right after all. She let her arms fall to her sides and then rolled her shoulders in a tight shrug. "I'm just…stressed." She said eventually.

Wilson knew opportunity when he saw it and looked down at the mail he still held in his hand. "When was the last time you had a vacation?"

Cuddy blinked at the sudden shift in conversational gears and then opened her mouth to answer before she found that she couldn't remember.

"Too long I'd say." Wilson sat down on one of the chairs opposite her desk and refused to say more until she took her own seat. "When was the last time you actually remember being on holiday? Not just away from the hospital, but actually on vacation." Wilson demanded.

Cuddy sat back in her chair and shivered through the adrenaline come down from her temper of a few moments ago. "Two…no three years ago I think."

"How long for?" Wilson arched a disbelieving brow even as he fought to look innocent.

Cuddy shrugged. "A long weekend I think." She shot him a wary look from the corner of one blue eye. "Why?"

Wilson pushed the leaflet for the Twelve Towers across her desk to her. "Because I bought these tickets for Julie and I when we were married and things being the way things are…do you want to go?"

Cuddy went very still and blinked at him rapidly. "You want me to go to…Scotland with you?"

Wilson shook his head vehemently without thought to tact. "No! I mean, you can have one of the spare tickets and take my holiday time, I'll stay here and cover for you."

Cuddy heaved an evident sigh of relief and smiled as she flipped open the hotel's brochure with one manicured finger to scan the contents more closely. "I can't, it's very kind and it would be lovely but…there's too much on at the moment and-"

Wilson sat forward and played his trump card. "Imagine how much more will be on if you get sued for slapping an employee."

Cuddy clicked her jaw shut and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'd only slap House and he wouldn't sue me."

"Still, think of the hospital's reputation…" Wilson pointed out, knowing that he was being horrifically manipulative but enough was enough. "People are nervous enough as it is without the threat of the dean of medicine decking them one." Wilson said in a musing fashion and hid a smile when he saw that he had her undivided attention.

"People are nervous? About what?"

Wilson rolled his eyes. "You and House."

Cuddy just stared at him. "What about…?" She shook her head not understanding, or not wanting to, as she searched for the appropriate words.

"Oh please, you two have been getting steadily worse for the last couple of months. You're constantly at each other's throats, and granted a lot of that's to do with House being the way House is. But you've sought him out once or twice recently just for the sake of yelling at him. It's driving everybody nuts."

Cuddy sat back in her chair and mulled that over for a moment. "I didn't realise."

"Of course you didn't, you'd have been consumed with guilt otherwise. The general consensus is that either you _have_ been going at it like naughty little bunnies and have recently suffered a rough patch or that you _need_ to go at it like naughty little bunnies…it's a fairly equal divide at the moment." Wilson said as nonchalantly as he dared.

Cuddy's mouth actually dropped open. She pointed out the office door to the hospital proper. "They…there are bets on this?"

Wilson shrugged. "There are bets on tomorrow's weather, some people just seem to have a lot more faith in you and House being…nasty to each other." Wilson said as delicately as he could manage. He stood and pushed the ticket insistently towards her. "Take the damn holiday." He ordered before he turned and left the office.

Cuddy watched him go and then looked down at the airline ticket in her hand. She tapped her full lips with her fingers and mulled it over some more.

There was no choice really.

Wilson headed to the elevators with a grin on his face and a spring in his step as he whistled jauntily to himself. He flashed a bright smile to one of the younger, prettier nurses before the doors swished shut.

He punched the button for diagnostics with one finger and resisted the urge to give an evil mastermind's chuckle and rub his hands together gleefully.

Convincing House to take a two week holiday to the middle of nowhere where virtually no one from the modern world could contact him would be a piece of cake.

If there was one thing House loved, it was his solitude.

Wilson smiled to himself. What to do about two co-workers that were driving each other, and everyone they worked with, nuts?

Insert one bee in one bonnet, shake well, step back and observe.

Mwahahahahahahaha!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay kiddies, did we just not notice that I've added to 'I'll Come Back' or are y'all on strike for reviewing that one, hmm? **

**Anyways, this is a fairly quick update because the chapter's mainly crapola but…I wanted to end it in this particular way so here we are. I don't think anyone has actually done this type of plot before (at least not in a Huddy fic) so I hope y'all enjoy it muchly. **

**Ummm…a wee note to Prinnie; I LOVE YOUR FICTION!!!! Mwaha! It was just so honest but funny at the same time. I love it. My only complaint is that it's not Huddy but I suppose I can live with it . I eagerly await your next update, look at me camped by the computer.**

**Luv and hugs and thanks for the reviews. **

**Chapter 2: One Helluva Surprise **

Cuddy wandered through the cavernous airport in Inverness, of all places, and tried not to look too much like a lost tourist. The brochure had told her that she would be picked up and taken to the hotel/resort which was actually on the small island of McCallan just off the western coast of Scotland.

Her wheelie case trundled along behind her. She nearly always travelled light on vacations, having developed a tendency early on to buy the bulk of her clothing when she arrived at her destination. She lifted on manicured hand and stifled a yawn. Nine hours on a plane will do that to you, she mused to herself and broke into a grin as she saw her ride.

The Jeep was massive and parked haphazardly half onto the sidewalk, er, pavement. It had the well worn battered appearance of a much loved and much used vehicle and Cuddy would have guessed that its original colour had been blue but the hood and at least two of the doors had been replaced with different coloured clones.

The driver looked barely old enough to be behind the wheel as he lounged against the hood with one booted foot hooked back into the wheel well. He had long shaggy brown hair that had been combed back by his pair of dark purple sunglasses. Laughing brown eyes looked over her appreciatively as a bright white grin flashed in his handsome tanned face. He flipped the sign bearing her name under one muscle roped arm as he extended the other in greeting.

"Dr Cuddy, I presume." His accent was Scottish and lilting but not overly so.

"One and the same." Cuddy smiled at him as he straightened away from the car and stooped to snatch up her bag before she could do anything to stop him. He stowed it neatly in the back seat and then looked questioningly over his shoulder at her.

"You want to sit in the back or up front?"

Cuddy tilted her head. "Up front is fine."

"Righto." He grinned and whipped open the passenger door before looking down at her thin pencil skirt and spiked heels before double checking the distance between the ground and the first step up into the towering vehicle. "My name's Daegus." He said suddenly and Cuddy was slightly taken aback before shaking his hand again.

"Nice to meet you, Daegus." She said a little perplexed and smothered a yelp when his hands spanned her waist and neatly deposited her into the passenger seat.

Cuddy could only stare as he neatly shut the door behind her and rounded the hood to leap into the driver's side. "Sorry about that, my sisters always taught me to introduce myself before manhandling someone." He flashed his dimpled grin at her.

"Really?" Cuddy finally managed as she numbly pulled on her seat belt.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that the rule mainly applied to women. I don't spend a lot of time manhandling men." Daegus confessed on another grin as he shoved the car into gear with a low snarl from the engine. They pulled out of the car lot with little difficulty and the engine grumbled beneath them in a strangely comforting way even as Cuddy mentally staggered at driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

"This your first time in Scotland?"

Cuddy dragged her eyes away from the wild looking scenery and then back to Daegus. She nodded, not quite up to verbalising when she saw how he was driving.

'Driving' being an optimistic term for it. Daegus was lounging back in the driver's seat with one hand hanging out the open window and the other loosely gripping the steering wheel at the six o'clock position.

"I think you're going to like it here. You look in need of some relaxing." Daegus informed her cheerfully as they sped along the strangest set of roads Cuddy had ever been on. They were all single track and twisted and turned throughout the landscape instead of just ploughing straight through like roads back in the states. The main hazard on the road appeared to be large rough wooled sheep that always seemed to have right of way and were not above planting themselves in the middle of the road to absorb the heat from the tarmac.

"What makes you say that?" Cuddy finally asked when she realised that she was in no danger of careening off the road with Daegus behind the wheel.

Daegus turned to her and pursed his lips considerately. "Well, yer hair for a start. Anyone who screws it on that tight is really tryin' tae hold back, yer sittin' really, really straight up when there's a perfectly good reclining seat under ye and they have got to be the worst travelling clothes I've ever seen. You're on holiday, not impressing some idiot at a board meeting."

Cuddy blinked at him and he flushed.

"Sorry. Don't tell ma mum."

Cuddy dissolved into a chuckle. "Alright, but for a moment there you sounded an awful lot like someone I know." She smiled at the boy and settled back a little more in her seat, it really was quite comfortable.

"Is that good or bad?"

Cuddy shrugged. "I'm not really sure anymore."

Daegus nodded decisively. "I'll take good."

Cuddy watched with interest as a small herd of deer bolted at the sight of the car and bounded away, their impressive antlered heads seeming heavy and ungainly on top of their graceful streamlined bodies. "Fallow deer?" Cuddy asked Daegus.

Daegus looked over and shook his head as he squirmed to get something out of his pocket. "Naw, Fallow deer are native to England. They've got spots and fuzzy antlers. Those are red deer, very common up here and a specialty at the hotel." Daegus inserted in a shameless plug.

Cuddy grinned.

"Aha!" Daegus exulted as he managed to finally wrestle two lollipops out of his black jeans' pocket. He held one out to Cuddy. "Want one?"

Cuddy's eyes dropped to the candy and her smile slipped a fraction. They looked just like the ones in PPTH that House was always stealing. She scowled slightly as the thought of her currently least favourite person flittered through her mind.

Impossible.

Cuddy thanked Daegus and took one as well as opening his, she had no desire for him to try and open the damn thing while hurtling along the twisting road at, good grief, sixty miles an hour.

Daegus grinned and bent to take the sweet directly from her fingers before thankfully turning his attention back to the road. "The guy I brought out here earlier gave me them as a tip." He muttered around the strawberry flavoured treat.

Cuddy made a non-committal sound as she sucked her own candy into her mouth. She stilled as the familiar taste registered. They were exactly the same as the ones back at the hospital. Was it possible…?

No. She shook her head. They were the same brand, a coincidence sure, but nothing to get in a knot about. Cuddy firmly put the thought from her head and refused to give into the urge to ask Daegus what the man had looked like.

Cuddy chose exactly the right moment to look out the window as the mounted the summit of a hill. Her breath caught as she took in the white sandy beach below them, the impossibly blue waters and the small jetty with an equally small ferry moored at it.

"It's beautiful." She breathed and Daegus grinned with typically patriotic pride.

"We know." He said as he steered the four-by-four down the sand scuffed road and onto the jetty to drive right onto the ferry. He waved once to the skipper and the weather beaten man waved back before the line was cast off and the ferry thrummed to life.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy craned her neck upward to get a proper look at the castle that dominated the skyline on the southern half of the island. She turned to Daegus and jerked a thumb out of the window. "This is your 'cosy family home'?"

Daegus shrugged with another one of his grins. "I didn't write the brochure. You, are staying out at the Heartstone Cottage. The honeymoon suite, rowr!' He winked at her as he growled playfully and Cuddy couldn't help but laugh at him. He drove straight past the castle and round the twisting road. They went along the coast for about half a mile before coming to the last cottage.

"I doubt there will be any of that." Cuddy laughed and Daegus frowned at her in the middle of swinging the door open. He turned back and shook his head.

"Darlin', I don't mean to pry, but your husband needs somethin' looked at if…" Daegus trailed off and blushed again and Cuddy tilted her head at him.

"If what?" She asked, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort.

Daegus shrugged. "I can't think of any way to finish that sentence politely." He jumped out the car and skirted the hood to help Cuddy down from her side. "Don't tell my mum." He pleaded and Cuddy grinned.

"Well, since my 'husband' isn't here. I think I'll let you off with it."

Daegus blinked down at her and then turned away abruptly, hauling her bag out of the back of the car. "Right." He agreed and gestured towards the cottage as he handed her the key. "Just go right on in, you can sign in at the front desk later. You know; have a shower, chill, greet your loved one." He bobbed his eyebrows meaningfully as he set the bag down on the front step.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, punctuated by a flash of lightening on the horizon. Daegus looked out at the wind tossed waves and frowned. He turned back to Cuddy and ushered her inside the cottage. "There's a storm on the way. There's plenty of food and stuff in the fridge so if it starts to rain don't bother coming to sign in."

Cuddy frowned from the doorway as the wind whipped at the boy's hair. "The weather can get that bad?"

Daegus chuckled. "Dr Cuddy, the next stop out that way," he pointed out to sea, "is Canada. We've got nothing to shield us. So just…be careful, right?"

Cuddy nodded with a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. I'll curl up with a good book or something."

Daegus nodded with a look of relief on his face. "Good, see ye the morrow." He waved one hand in goodbye and then slung himself upward into the jeep before gunning the engine and driving away.

Cuddy shut the door with a happy sigh. She was finally on vacation. It had taken a little bit of persuasion but now that she was here, she thought she was going to enjoy herself. Just her, a few bestsellers she'd been meaning to read and…what was that noise?

Cuddy's heels clicked on the stone floor as she wandered through the cottage. She absently noted the antique furniture and expensive décor as she moved past tapestries and oil paintings and trod over fur rugs., following the strange sounds that seemed to be issuing from the bedroom.

Cuddy opened the door tentatively and jumped as thunder boomed directly overhead and lightening flashed outside.

The bedroom was massive with a huge four-poster bed dominating the room covered with fur throws and thickly embroidered quilts. The frame was made of ebony and antlers softened by the forest green drapes that were swathed down from the top. A large dresser stood proudly beside the bed and an ornately carved free-standing wardrobe.

Cuddy's eyes fell onto the battered hold-all on the floor and her stomach lurched, she so did not want to deal with this right now. She just wanted to shower and then crash, not deal with some double booking problem. She smothered a yelp as her foot stumbled over something. She stooped on a frown and lifted one sickeningly familiar sneaker.

"Oh no." She muttered, determined not to believe it. Her suspicions were confirmed as the en suite door clattered open and a tall – naked – figure limped out of the bathroom with a towel rumpled over his head as he scrubbed his hair. Cuddy's mouth dropped open as her eyes tracked over his chest, brawny arms and down to…oh my.

She must have muttered that last part aloud, because House whipped the towel down off of his damp head and blinked at Cuddy who was still crouching on the floor by the bed with one sneaker in her hand.

House tilted his head and managed, barely, not to shriek his surprise at having his boss show up on his holiday.

"What are you doing here!?" They both demanded at the same time.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: okay doke, here I am with chapter three. This took a while to get right so…yeah. Um, a bitty of smut for all you loyal readers out there and I suppose for all you late arrivals as well.**

**Why do they always wake you up before the good part? I'm telling you, after I saw Brad Pitt in 'Troy' I slept for about a week. **

**PRINNIE UPDATED!!! Woo! Stella Cuddy rocks! Anyways, can't read her new fiction coz it has season three spoilers (which I didn't realise until after I had started reading it, cue scream of anguish). **

**Anyways, Prin, honey, darling, sweety, I hate to tell you this but I'm beginning to not like Sam. I'm sure he's a lovely bloke and all that but he is in the way of the Huddy so I may just have to send Tawny into your fic to take him out…not that I'm impatient or anything :D. **

**And who watches NCIS?**

**Everyone? **

**Good **

**Well, EXCUSE THE FUCK OUT OF ME BUT WHO GAVE PERMISSION TO KILL OFF KATE??!!! I mean, you miss one weeks' episode and then Gibbs is talking to an imaginary Kate with a bullet hole in her forehead. **

**WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?**

**WHO AUTHORISED THIS?!!**

**I _KNOW_ I'M NOT THE ONLY KIBBS SHIPPER OUT THERE. Oh, ffs, I totally give up on writers. You know, the ones that actually get paid to write for television? I mean, a girl can only take so many let downs of the romantic variety (ok, so the Sara/Grissom ship was an exception but still). **

**I'm gonna set a snare trap baited with cheap mass produced plots on how to break the fans' hearts capture the wee bugger and string him up by his ankles until I get some decent fucking romance on the telly!**

**pant, pant, wheeze okay rant over. **

**Read and review. **

**Chapter 3: Stuck With Me**

"_What are you doing here?!"_

For one long, horrifying, moment Cuddy couldn't even breathe as she stared up at House from her position on the floor. With a great effort, she clicked her jaw shut and rose to her full height before letting the scruffy sneaker fall from her hand and thump to the floor. She shut her eyes and her hands fisted at her side, she could hear House babbling in the background, but had ceased to discern the words a few moments ago in the interest of his safety.

She inhaled one deep shuddering breath and opened her eyes to look over at House who stood, favouring his leg, water dripping down his body to be absorbed by the towel at his hips. She blinked once more and then spun on her heel with a grating sound and marched through the cottage to throw open the front door.

It was at that precise moment, that the heavens decided to open in a torrential downpour.

Cuddy's fingers tightened on the door so hard that the wood creaked under her grip. Her jaw worked in silent rage and she huffed the breath out before slamming the door with a rather satisfying crack of sound.

She turned and jumped to see House standing so close. She glowered at him. "I get to kill him first." She uttered darkly and skirted his naked self to stalk along the corridor to the small kitchen, Daegus had promised a goody bag and where there were goody bags there was invariably some form of alcohol and god-damnit if she didn't need a drink.

"Who?"

Cuddy turned to House who trailed after her, holding the towel with one hand and his cane in the other.

"_Who?!" _She hissed disbelievingly. "Wilson! That's who!" She threw open the fridge door and bent to investigate the contents. Orange juice, milk, mineral water, champagne and…ah-hah!

Whisky!

She whirled back around and clutched the bottle to her chest. "Oh sure, Cuddy, go on a vacation, it'll do you the world of good." She parodied viciously waving her empty hand for emphasis and had House backing away slightly as she advanced on him. "Go and get de-stressed, I'll cover for you at the hospital. It'll do you good to spend some time. Away. From. _House!"_ She was nearly yelling by the end of her diatribe and House looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something before she levelled a glare at him and cracked the seal on the bottle.

He wisely kept his silence as she poured a shot for herself and threw it back over her throat.

He sidled a glass next to hers so that she automatically poured him a drink as well. He didn't think he had ever seen her quite so mad. Sure, he pissed her off at work a lot but she had come to expect that to a certain extent, from him at least.

She was pissed because Wilson had blindsided her with this trick of his.

He supposed he should be annoyed too, but he guessed that Wilson had done it to get back at House for any number of practical jokes they had exchanged over the years of their friendship. He wasn't exactly ecstatic that he had Cuddy stuck in a cottage with him but he wasn't fresh off a plane and in need of a shower.

"Look on the bright side," he urged her and continued on quickly at the lethal glare she levelled towards him. "They probably have a spare room at the hotel or a free cottage on the island somewhere, as soon as the rain lets up you can go around, explain the situation and they're bound to put you up somewhere else."

She drank another shot and slapped the glass back down on the counter-top before looking at him with another dangerous glare. "Why do I have to move again?"

House blinked. "I was here first?"

She growled, actually growled at him. He swallowed in surprise, he hadn't known her throat could do that. Her scowl remained firmly in place as she poured another drink for herself and swallowed it in sharp irritated movements.

"Why don't you go and shower?" House suggested, slightly worried by the way she was throwing those shots back in such quick succession.

"Oh, fabulous, now I smell." She grated in faux cheerfulness.

House sighed. "I meant that it might relax you, either way, you should stop drinking." He advised.

"So you can drink on the job, be addicted to drugs and indulge your questionable morals in MY hospital whenever you want, but I can't have a drink when I'm on vacation. Is that what you're saying, House?" Her tone practically dared him to admit it and he shifted, this Cuddy was an unstable element, out of her usual habitat and lashing out wildly in unexpected ways.

To put it bluntly, he didn't know how to deal with her.

"Uh…yeah." He said.

Her temper suddenly seemed too much for her and she pressed a hand to her forehead and made a muffled screaming sound in the back of her throat before picking up the bottle, ignoring the glass completely and swallowing a mouthful of the burning liquid. She looked back up at him suddenly.

"You know what? I don't care, you fix it. Phone the front desk, phone Wilson, hell, use my phone if you like." She tossed her cell phone at him and he caught it just in time against his slick chest. "I'm going for a bath." She snapped.

House watched her go and then looked back down at the phone curled innocently in his palm. He flipped it open as his shock was worn away to reveal a hot coil of anger underneath. Anger, directed squarely at Wilson. He scrolled through the rather extensive memory of the phone until he lit on the number he wanted and punched it.

He listened to the tone of the signal bouncing off the satellite and then blipping down on the other side of the world to find that one certain phone. He was dimly aware of a new sound adding itself to the cacophonous noise of the storm, the sound of water thundering into the large bellied tub in the bathroom. He imagined he could hear her angry muttering, even at the other end of the cottage but abruptly forgot it as a voice announced its presence at the other end of the connection.

"Cuddy?" Asked Wilson, albeit a little warily.

"Nope. Guess again." House demanded on a snarl and he could practically hear Wilson's grimace.

"Ah."

"Yeah, 'ah', you mind explaining to me why I have a very annoyed, quite drunk and extremely _here_ Lisa Cuddy on my hands?" House growled.

"She's drunk?" Wilson said disbelievingly.

"Getting that way, thanks to you, what on earth possessed you Jimmy?"

Wilson sighed. "I'm sick and tired of you two dragging me into your infantile arguments. I just wanted to lock you two in a room somewhere so that you'd either get over each other or…get all over each other."

House blinked. "You know, if I wasn't so pissed I'd actually be impressed with this, but she's gonna kill you."

"Oh." Wilson didn't sound surprised.

"Then I'm going to mutilate your corpse and bury you at a crossroads." House sounded pleasant enough but there was an edge to his voice that let Wilson know he wasn't entirely joking.

"Hmm." Wilson replied. "Well, as long as you're decided, I'll leave you to plot together. Don't call me, I'll call you. Bye!" Wilson called overly cheerfully and disconnected the phone before House could even continue in his death threats.

House scowled at the phone and thought briefly about redialling, but knew Wilson would just ignore it. He tossed the phone onto the work-surface and then limped back to the bedroom in order to find clothes.

He strode into the bedroom and slung his hold-all onto the bed before rummaging through the contents to find a suitable set of jeans and tee. He heard splashing from the bathroom and presumed that Cuddy was enjoying her bath. He turned and noticed that the door was only half shut, he had heard it slam so she must have swung it so hard that it bounced back out of the frame. House shrugged and dropped his towel and set about dressing himself. It wasn't until he sat on the edge of the bed to take the weight off his leg that he caught the flash of movement out the corner of his eyes.

He went completely still as he saw what was unmistakably a long Cuddy leg lifting out of the soapy water of the bath. He peered more closely and realised that he was looking into the reflection of the mirror which had been knocked askew on its axis by Cuddy's bra which she had obviously thrown at it in a fit of temper.

House could clearly see her stretching out and wiggling her toes in the bubbles that clung to them as she stroked a sponge along the toned length of her thigh, down over her knee and swept around her calf and down to her slim ankles.

House's mouth went dry as she shifted in the water and he saw her lift the whisky bottle to take another long slug from it. The movement caused her to lift her torso above the water line and House literally could not tear his eyes away from the sight of watery suds streaking down over the curves of her magnificent breasts.

House shifted uncomfortably and decided to leave the bedroom before he couldn't button up his jeans at all. He limped through to the kitchen, he was pretty sure he'd seen beer in the fridge when he hadn't been checking out Cuddy's ass as she bent over and right now, a cold drink was exactly what he needed.

They had better have a room at the hotel because if they didn't…House had an awful feeling that he was going to do something that Cuddy would make him regret.

It was a couple of hours later that House decided that he'd better go and see if Cuddy had fallen in. he hadn't seen head nor hair of her and she had been fairly intent on finishing that bottle all by her lone self…

He gripped his cane and wandered through to the bedroom. He stilled when his eyes fell on the small towel wrapped Cuddy-shape on the bed. She had obviously crawled out of her bath and sat on the edge of the bed to dry off a little before getting dressed.

She was slumped over onto the mounds of pillows at the head of the bed, her feet curled up, one hand gripping the towel loosely over her chest and the bottle of whisky abandoned on the bedside table.

She had loosened her hair from the tight knot at her nape and it now splayed wetly across the pillows.

House limped over to the bed and looked down at her. Jet-lag must have hit her hard for her to just twink like that. "Cuddy." He wondered if she were just dosing. They still had to sort out where they were sleeping, there was only one bed after all.

She didn't even flutter one of her long eyelashes as his voice washed over her. House sighed and reached out to shake her shoulder and wake her…except his hand wouldn't close those last few inches and touch what he knew would be warm damp, skin, still flushed from the heat of the water.

She did look kind of cute just laying there…all tuckered out like.

House smacked a hand to his forehead and smothered a groan. Cute? Tuckered out? Since when did he even _think_ those words?

He looked accusingly down at her but, unsurprisingly she didn't respond to his glare.

He sighed as he stifled a yawn. He wanted to sleep too. He looked down at her, curled on the edge of the bed as if prepared to jump up guiltily at being caught napping. He smirked and hobbled round to the other side of the bed.

There was more than enough room, even for a guy as big as he was. The bed was well over eight feet long and nearly just as wide. It had thick covers and quilts and looked more than inviting to his travel weary body. He cast one last look at Cuddy as he stripped off his jeans and exchanged them for stripy pyjama bottoms, he considered leaving on his tee shirt but the room really was too warm for it. He stripped that off too, popped his bedtime vicodin and then wriggled under the duvet.

House squirmed a little as he worked himself into a good sleeping sprawl and then heaved a long contented sigh. He thought that the sound of Cuddy's soft even breathing would be just loud enough to keep him awake, but instead, he found it an oddly soothing counterpoint to his own.

He moved just once, to pull the fur throw that lounged on the foot of the bed up and over Cuddy, telling himself it was so she wouldn't wake up whining of being cold, and then let his head drop down to sink into the pillows and let sleep overtake him.

Cuddy awakened to a hot mouth on her throat. She moaned quietly and arched as a smooth tongue lapped at her pulse and then sharp teeth nibbled her collar bone sending little shivery eddies of sensation skittering along her nerve endings.

She squirmed, unsure if she wanted to get away from the tingling sensations or to get closer. A whimper slipped past her lips and out into the cool air of the room. A large hand pushed the fur throw down and away from her naked heated body.

Cool air licked at her flesh and her nipples pebbled at the sensation as a male body loomed over her and pressed down in a hot heavy weight that she had been so long without.

A weight she hadn't even realised she had missed.

The fur was pushed further down her body and the hard chest pressed against hers with a tickling of springy hair that had just the right amount of scratch to have her arching against him. Her nails dug into the hard muscle of his shoulders even as she reminded herself that it was a habit she had tried to break.

Skilled fingers tickled down her side over her ribs, the toned planes of her stomach, stroking her hip and then delightfully, finally, slipping between her thighs to stroke over her hot wet core.

She whimpered again and her teeth scraped his neck as he pushed two long fingers into her. Her nails raked his back along the length of his spine and his answering groan vibrated right through her head and shivered down to join the heat low in her belly.

His mouth brushed hers and she jerked in his strong arms at the sensation. Then he settled his lips against hers and kissed her hard and fast in a dominating plunge of his tongue, moving in stunning counterpoint to his fingers hard inside her.

Cuddy gave a muffled cry of pleasure as her muscles clamped around his fingers and she duelled his tongue with her own. Her teeth scraping his lip and her leg lifting to wrap around his hips. She needed him closer, harder, faster.

Everything had to be more and now.

A third finger joined the first two deep inside her and his thumb rolled over her clit. This time she did scream, just a small one, she stifled it quickly. She had always been too loud, to demanding, too rough. Other men had complained at the scratches and the bites and the screams but this man didn't seem to mind.

He growled against her ear and nipped her there with his teeth. Her hands spanned the breadth of his shoulders, down his back, over the tight curve of his ass and then around to circle the thick length of him.

God, he was huge.

Long hard and thrusting with a burning speed between her fingers as he pressed his forehead against her shoulder and groaned. She could feel him pulse in her hands and her lips curled in typical feminine power at having someone so much bigger and stronger than her shivering and moaning in her light, teasing hold.

"Cuddy." His voice sounded harsh and loud in her ear and she turned her head away on a moan as her back arched like a strung bow ready to be loosed.

"Cuddy." He spoke again but she still kept her eyes closed, savouring every delicious sensation, she didn't want it to stop.

"Don't stop." She murmured and cried out again as pleasure burst inside her in a teasing bloom of what was to come.

"Lisa, wake up!"

Cuddy snapped her eyes open and choked a cry as House's face loomed over her. She jerked in a full body spasm away from him and the world tilted.

Cuddy groaned, this time in pain, as she squirmed around and righted herself against the cold hardwood floor. She looked up and frowned as she rubbed the back of her head. She had hit it when she had fallen out of…bed.

With House.

Her eyes flew open even as her chest heaved in unsatisfied arousal. She looked down and gaped in horror as she realised that she only had a slightly damp towel around her hips to preserve the tattered remains of her modesty. She gave a squeak of alarm and yanked the fur throw down off the bed and held it up over her chest.

"Pervert!" She scolded him and he laughed, actually laughed.

"Hey, I'm not the one that fell asleep in nothing but a towel. I even put the cover over you but then you started dreaming, or nightmaring, and you squirmed about so much that you fell off the bed when I tried to wake you." House defended himself and Cuddy tried not to stare at his naked chest and shoulders.

Of all the times to have one of her dreams.

About House no less!

"Ugh." Cuddy moaned as she rubbed her head again and stood, slightly shaky with her cover wrapped around her. She was aware of his eyes on her.

Cuddy stilled and looked at him before shuffling away into the gloom and opening her suitcase to try and find something that she felt would be safe enough to sleep next to House in.

Maybe they had suits of armour up at the castle…no too far away. Besides all that steel plating would chafe. Cuddy sighed and held up her night shirt, the ridiculously froofy _see-through _thigh length thing. She sighed.

"Here."

Cuddy turned just in time to have a shirt flop over her head. She pulled it off and realised it was one of House's. She looked at him with a questioning brow arched.

"Just wear it. It'll suit you better than that see through thing anyway." He snapped and flopped back down onto the bed.

Cuddy stood slowly and fingered the cotton of the shirt. She pulled the cool material over her skin along with a pair of French underwear. It smelled of clean and of him. She shivered at the memory of the dream.

She had always been a vivid dreamer but that…she had never felt anything like _that._ She could still feel the bruising force of his lips against hers, the stroke of his fingers over her body, the scrape of his stubble against the curve of her breast.

Cuddy wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered.

"Cuddy, I'm not going to bite. You only have to sleep on the other side of the bed from me for one night, so just get in so we can both get some sleep."

Cuddy looked up at his harsh tone and was halfway across the room before she thought about moving. She lifted the covers a little gingerly and crawled under them. She curled on her side facing him and watched as his shoulders relaxed.

She listened to his breathing slow and then tumble into sleep.

_It was just a dream._ She told herself.

_Just a dream. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Finding Out**

House reached up and scrubbed a hand over his face before blinking rapidly and letting his eyes adjust to the lemon light of a rising sun filter through the curtains and spray itself across the room and onto the bed.

That was odd, he couldn't seem to move his other arm.

House turned his head and his frown deepened as his chin came into contact with wild dark curls. He twisted his neck so that he could look down at the sleeping woman that was currently using him as a pillow.

Cuddy lay with her head resting on his chest, one arm curled up around his head to tangle her fingers in his hair and the other curled over his shoulder. Her legs were tangled around his and she was definitely more on him than off.

Not that he was entirely passive in the embrace. His arm was wrapped around her waist and he hand managed to bury his hand under the shirt he had loaned her so that his fingers were splayed against her shoulder blades. He could feel how incredibly warm and smooth the skin on her back was and he resisted the urge to stroke his fingers over her to see if she was like that all over.

Now, how was he going to get out of this without waking her up?

He supposed he could always just shove her off and make some snide comment about her crawling all over him at the first opportunity…but he really didn't feel like it. He wriggled carefully and rolled her gently onto her back.

She moaned softly in her sleep and House wasn't above looking over the toned length of her midriff, the rather intriguing red panties and the long length of her legs that the shirt had ridden up during the night to expose.

She really_ did_ have a zesty bod.

House rolled into a sitting position and absently rubbed his leg before twisting around to look at her again. The shirt was a cool green and contrasted rather nicely with her tanned skin. A few key buttons had given way to her rolling around in her sleep and it was now just barely covering her…all in all she did look like a rather nicely wrapped Christmas present come early.

House pursed his lips and smiled when he saw the top of his camera peaking out of the top of his hold-all. He snagged his cane and limped as quietly as he could over to it. He lifted it and switched it on while freezing as she shifted in her sleep.

He levelled it at her and then shifted slightly to the side when he decided the angle wasn't right. The camera was a good one that he always brought on his vacations, a habit his mother had instilled in him. To record wherever he went, she was an avid photographer and had passed on many of her skills to her son.

House snapped a full length photograph of her lying asleep, and another when the sound of the shutter caused her to shift in her sleep. Then he took a shot of her face turned half away from him, one of the way her hair tumbled down over one eye, one of her hands with her fingers lightly laced together on the white pillow.

It occurred to him that this was slightly…voyeuristic, he supposed, but he grinned as he bent and tucked the camera back into its case and then back into his bag. He decided it wouldn't hurt her if she didn't know and he didn't plan on letting her know unless he needed to blackmail her for something.

He snatched up his cane and ambled through to the kitchen, not quite decided if he was hungry but he might change his mind at the sight of food.

Cuddy flopped down onto the sand of the dune and huffed out a tired breath. She had run for about four miles now in a long circuitous route down across the island to the beach to pound barefoot across the sand. She let a tired arm fall across her eyes as she lay on her back.

The cool bracing wind played over her heated skin and was a soothing salty feeling as it tugged at her hair. She had woken up this morning smelling of him, in his clothes and wishing that he was still in bed with her.

Heat pulsed through her veins and Cuddy moaned and screwed her eyes tighter shut, trying to banish the hot images flashing behind her eyelids. Resigned to opening her eyes, Cuddy propped herself up on her elbows and stared out into the grey-green sea. White surf crashed onto the pale sandy beach and was oddly peaceful in its repetitive washing sound.

She felt completely alone here. Cut off from the rest of the world even though the cottage was now just over the hill and up the path from where she reclined in the dunes. She scowled as she remembered who she was sharing the cottage with. She had gone by the front desk earlier and had been told politely but firmly that the inn and all surrounding dwellings were full.

The girl behind the front desk, Nara, was Daegus' older sister and had apologised and promised to speak to her mother about it, but there really was nothing for it.

Cuddy was trapped in the cottage with House.

Just her, House and a healthy helping of acute sexual frustration…oy vey.

Cuddy sighed as she hauled herself to her feet and brushed the sand off her sweats and arms before walking through the dunes towards the cottage. Her feet sank into the sand and cuddy smiled, she had always loved beaches, even this cool primal beach on an island off the coast of Scotland had her grinning and now that she had stopped running, she was beginning to feel every degree of difference between a Scottish summer and a Jersey one.

No, New Jersey over here, Jersey was a small island in the middle of the English Channel when you spoke of it in Britain. Which had made for a very interesting conversation this morning up at the castle but did little to distract her from the fact that she was still going back to a house with House in it.

Cuddy arrived back at the cottage sooner than she expected. She pushed through the small gate around the cosy garden, inhaled the scent of roses as she walked past the crowded flower beds and pushed open the green painted wooden door.

Cuddy stilled as the heavenly scent of cooking wafted towards her. Her bare feet were silent against the hardwood floors as she padded through to the kitchen. She stood in the doorway and couldn't help but stare as she watched House lean against the counter with one hip while he prodded at a joint of some kind of meat in a sizzling pan.

He seemed to sense her presence, because his head lifted and turned to her with a smile. No, House didn't smile, that was most definitely a smirk.

"Hey, do you know how to cook?"

Cuddy blinked. "Of course."

"Good, c'mere and tell me if this is done."

Cuddy frowned slightly as she crossed the kitchen and looked around his elbow to see the meat.

"Venison?"

"Yup, and there's roast potatoes and veggies in the oven and a rather nice selection of wine as well, but that's in the fridge." House supplied as he frowned at the meat again.

Cuddy took the skewer he was wielding and stabbed it into the meat. "It's not done until the juices run clear. Give it another hour or so. Did you cook this?" She asked him disbelievingly.

"No. The boy, the driver, brought it round earlier. All ready to stick in the oven, apparently it's their version of room service and, bonus, since Wilson stuck us on this holiday together we get it all for free." House grinned down at her and Cuddy was suddenly very away of how close she was standing to him.

"Hmm, well, I'm going for a shower." She muttered and stepped away from him hurriedly.

House watched her go as he set the meat back in the oven to finish cooking. She probably had no idea how good she looked all sweaty and flushed like that. He could practically taste the ocean off her. House ambled over to the cupboards to look for plates, he still had half an hour until he had to start getting the rest of it ready.

A small idea bloomed in his head as he pursed his lips, mulling it over. She might get the wrong idea or…she might get exactly the right idea. A small smile tugged his mouth as he started opening cupboard and looking for what he needed. This was going to be fun.

Cuddy marched back through to the kitchen/dining room like a woman on a mission. Because she was.

As she had gone into the shower, she had looked at herself in the mirror for the first time that day and, to her horror, her chest and throat had been streaked with angry stubble burns from a night sleeping next to the sandpaper jawed one.

She set her instruments of torture, ahem, discipline onto the table. An old fashioned cut-throat razor (attempting not to have the name give her ideas), a bowl of warm water, towel, a scrubby brush and some shaving soap. She smirked to herself as she went in search of her victim.

"House?"

House poked his head in through the back door and Cuddy frowned, what had he been doing out there? On second thought, she didn't want to know.

"Come here." She patted the chair. "Sit."

House narrowed his eyes at her as he stepped inside. He ambled to the table and looked down at the lethal looking blade. "No thanks, I chose life." He smiled at her and turned to go but her fingers circled his bicep.

"House, look." She turned him to her and pulled aside the neckline of her cream coloured shirt.

"Yes, ma'am." He leered and she resisted the urge to smack him, alright, she had deserved that.

She pointed to the stubble burns. "This is chronic, I'm all for exfoliation but if I have to share a bed with you for two weeks then your going to take the skin clean off me." She paused a minute as she pushed him down onto the chair. "There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself saying." She muttered. He looked like he was about to protest but she silenced him with a glare.

"Fine." He sulked and resigned himself to having the skin taken off his jaw by the evil wench.

"Take off your shirt." She ordered shortly as she arranged her tools.

He shot her a look and she rolled her eyes. "Unless you want foam all over your prized Jack Daniels tee shirt."

He only muttered half heartedly as he pulled the tee shirt over his head and tossed it haphazardly onto the dining table. She draped a towel over one of his shoulders and continued to set up her instruments of face denudement.

"Now," she said as she lifted the brush and lathered against the soap with practiced movements and straddled one of his legs so she could stand closer to him. "Don't talk or I might cut you, and though you might deserve it, I don't feel like listening to you whine about it for the rest of your career."

House opened his mouth to say something but she effectively shut him up by slipping her wet hands over his jaw and neck with surprisingly gentle movements. She tilted him back over the edge of the table and pressed her knee against the chair between his legs to hold it there.

He didn't think he had ever been this close to her. Not really. Sure, they got pretty close to each other when they were verbally tearing chunks out of each other but she was so intent on spreading the lather over his face that she didn't notice his scrutiny of her. It was a rare opportunity to watch her unobserved himself.

He took in every movement as she scooped the lather onto his face with her fingers and smoothed it over the planes of his jaw and the column of his neck. Her eyes were half lidded as she tilted her head to make sure she'd covered everywhere she needed to, a stray curl of hair fell down over her brow and she tossed her head to free herself of it as she set the bowl of lather down before rinsing her hands. Her palms smoothed over the towel on his shoulder to dry them and then she picked up the razor.

Her eyes flickered to his and her tongue swiped over her lips as she watched him a moment. "I mean don't move, this is sharp."

"All right, you've got me where you want me. I'm not going anywhere." Did he imagine the way her pupils dilated at his half joking sentence.

Her fingers were whisper soft as she tilted his head and set the blade against his cheek. It rasped sensually against his skin as she pulled it down over his face, her wrist swivelling with the contours of his cheek and jaw. She pursed her lips and shook the blade in the water to rinse it before setting it to his face again and moving onto the next swathe of skin.

So it went, he was completely silent, absorbed in the expression of concentration on her face as she gently held a knife to his face and neck and never once harmed him. He blinked in surprise when she leant closer to him.

He heard the razor settle against the wood of the table and then a splash of water. Her breasts were pressed against his shoulder as she reached further across the table for something else.

House could do nothing but clear his throat and try not to think about how easy it would be to put his arms up around her and tug her down on his lap. She straightened again, apparently oblivious to the havoc she was playing with his hormones and then lifted the towel off his shoulder.

She stroked the damp towel over his face to clear away the last vestiges of lather and then upended a bottle of lotion over her palm. A silky creamy puddle pooled on her tanned skin and she rubbed her hands together before smoothing them over his face.

He looked up at her and realised she had a sort of distant look in her eyes. He wandered who she had learned to do this with. A sudden lance of jealousy hit him so hard and hot that he jerked in the chair.

Cuddy yelped in surprise at the sudden spasm under her hands. House shifted forward, clattering her knee with the wood of the chair and dropping it forward onto all four legs. Cuddy hissed in pain as she reeled backwards and was only saved from crashing to the floor by the strong arm that wrapped around her waist and tugged her forcefully down onto his lap.

Cuddy's lips parted on a gasp as his thigh was suddenly pressed hard and intimately between hers. Her jaw clicked shut with a clash of teeth as a whimper escaped her throat. She shut her eyes and set her hands down on his shoulders to push away from him only to have her fingers slither down over his arms at the lotion that still coated them.

"Jesus!" He choked as he set her away from him, trying not to react to the feel over her hands slipping over his skin with that silky lotion. "Are you okay?" His voice was rough as if he hadn't used it in a decade.

She held her hands up and away from him like a surgeon not wanting to touch anything before an operation and nodded in a slightly dazed manner, her cheeks scored with a deep flush as she cleared her throat. "Uh yeah…dinner will be ready."

She blinked, that was quite possibly the most insane thing that had ever come out of her mouth.

"Right." He muttered and stood with the aid of his cane. He snagged his shirt and tugged it on over his head ignoring the cooling feel of the cream on his face and shoulders. "Dinner." He reminded himself and headed for the kitchen, hoping she didn't look below his belt for the next…year.

She cleared her throat and wiped her hands on the towel. Before taking the bowl through to the kitchen and settling it there. She scrubbed a wrist over her mouth as she leant against the countertop for support and looked at him. "Do you want me to do anything?"

House looked up at her as he slipped a couple of slices of meat onto her plate. Well the opportunities in that question were boundless but he decided to leave it. Begging, in his opinion was not a sexy quality. "You can take the gravy out." He pointed an elbow at the small jug by the hob.

"Right." Cuddy snatched it up and then turned back to him. "Out where?"

"Just go out the back door, we're eating alfresco tonight." He informed her and Cuddy decided it would be impolite to refuse seeing as he had went to all the effort of cooking, or reheating, dinner.

_Impolite? _A small voice in the back of her mind mocked. _You've just spent the last half hour with your hands all over the man and he nearly brings you to orgasm by pulling you down on his lap and you're worried about **polite**?_

Cuddy scowled at the internal voice but the expression slipped from her face as she pushed through the back door and into the cooling night.

Her mouth fell open as she looked at what he had done.

There was a table set for two on the patio outside the back of the cottage. A canopy of honeysuckle had been grown on a trellis over the rough hewn patio that appeared to have been grown right out of the ground in oddly coloured pink and grey granite. Torches were ensconced in the side of the cottage and on wrought iron frames under the trellis, their scented flames flickered and cast a soft glow that complimented the pastel coloured sunset on the horizon.

"Cuddy, you gonna move, coz I'm hungry."

Cuddy jumped at the sound of his voice behind her and turned to look questioningly at him. They gravy pot still cupped between her palms. She realised she was staring and shut her mouth quickly before going to the table before him. She took the further away seat and marvelled at the table.

The settings were simple but fine. Fine china plates with a simple green and gold Celtic pattern around the rim, finely carved silver cutlery, crystal glasses with a deep red wine waiting to be poured into them and, of course the torchlight.

"You did this while I was in the shower?" She asked him eventually as he set her plate down before her, piled high with the fine cuts of meat, steamed vegetables and the crisp potatoes.

"Well, I figured sitting fantasising would just get me a scolding." He smirked at her as he took his own seat. No, that one was a smile.

"It's…" She trailed off as she gazed around at it.

"It's nothing. The plates and cutlery are standard cottage issue, the dinner was cooked practically for us and the torches are to keep the bugs away."

Cuddy smiled and looked right at him as she spoke slowly and clearly. "Greg, it's lovely, that's all I was going to say."

He stilled, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Oh." He was silent a beat more before he spoke again. "You just called me Greg."

Lisa stilled a fraction and then forced a shrug as she cut herself a slice of meat and ate it before answering. "It's your name."

"Yeah, but I'm usually just House." He prodded her.

She sighed, tough whether in pleasure at the food or annoyance at his dogged refusal to have a pleasant conversation, he couldn't tell.

"You're never 'just' anything." She almost snapped and then appeared to regain her composure. "Besides, we're not at work and I feel stupid calling you by your second name when we're practically living together." She didn't meet his eyes as she ate her dinner.

"Alright, Lisa, who taught you to shave a man?" He asked as he forked a generous slice of meat into his mouth as it dripped gravy.

She was silent a moment and finished what she was eating before answering. "My brother broke his arm when he was eighteen. He hated the scruff that you so seem to revel in, so someone had to do it."

He tilted his head as he thought about that. "You learned on your brother's face? Yikes, that's a learning curve." House ran a hand over his own now smooth jaw in appreciation.

She allowed him a smile. "The first attempt ended with him looking rather like roadkill."

He tilted his head to the side. "How do I look?" He pretended to preen and earned a dry chuckle from her for it.

"You look…different." She finally settled on, though her slight frown indicated she didn't quite trust the word to do him justice.

"Different good or different bad?"

She shrugged again. "Just different. I don't know yet."

"Well, it should be interesting to find out." He said on a smirk as he lifted his wine glass to drink.

She surprised him by lifting her glass as well in a salute. "To finding out." She offered with a strange kind of smile gracing her lips.

His answering grin was wider than he usually allowed. "To finding out." He agreed and neither of them broke eye contact as they both drank deeply.

**A/N: okay peeps, let's try something new, you know how on TV shows you sometimes get that bit at the end that shows a preview of what happens next week? **

**Well, I thought I'd give it a go, because I write scenes as they come to me and then slot them in as the story comes sort of thing. This conversation will happen in the next few chapters and I just thought I'd give you a wee preview of what's to come. **



"_I said that I thought you were beautiful when you're angry and I lied."_

_She rolled her eyes and moved to turn from him again but he pulled her back insistently._

"_I meant you were gorgeous." He told her as he stared down into her stunned face. Her lips parted and slick, raindrops gathering on her lashes like diamonds and her chest heaving in suppressed temper._

"_What?"_

"_When you're angry. You're beyond beautiful. 'Beautiful' is too tame a word for what you are because when people say 'beautiful' they mean serene and when you're pissed you're so hot; you steam. Your pupils dilate, your skin flushes, your chest heaves, your pulse races, you become unfocused and almost dazed looking and, when you're like that, God when you're like that, it looks like you've just come so **hard."**_

_She stared up at him, stunned at the words that were pouring from his mouth like rain was pouring from the sky. He was almost shouting at her over the storm, but that was somehow fitting as their entire relationship appeared to be based on screaming matches. _

_He smiled down at her then, a look of male triumph. "And it's **always** me that's put that look on your face."_

**Well, ahem, that's all yer getting! Tune in next episode to see how it comes about (bearing in mind that it might not actually be the next chapter).**

**I'm so bad but it's just sooo good isn't it?**

**There isn't a smiley saucy enough for what I've got planned. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Tribute to Rain**

Greg stalked about the cottage and attempted not to scowl. He was bored. He didn't feel like watching television, his PSP was charging and, besides, he was bored with the games he had bought for it, he didn't even have Lisa to annoy since she had done her daily disappearing act to go and run somewhere.

He sat down on one of the plush arm chairs in the lounge and rubbed at his leg at the momentarily jealous thought. He had liked to run, he had loved to run, and he missed it all the more now because of his bum leg. He heaved in a breath and pushed the thoughts away, no point in getting all bitter about it, he'd had five years to get used to it.

His grip tightened on his cane so hard his skin creaked over it.

He had woken up with her all over him again. He supposed it was equally his fault, he had been sort of wrapped around her, pinning her to him with his arm around her waist. Luckily he had woken up before her again, he usually slept about six hours compared to her eight, and had managed to sneak out of bed before she had noticed his new meaning to 'rise and shine'.

He hated cold showers.

There was a knock at the door and House ambled to it before yanking it open with a scowl on his face.

A small roundly curved woman smiled up at him. She swept dark hair out of her unfashionably pale face and spoke with the thick brogue that Greg had fast learned to associate with the locals.

"House keeping." She announced as she hefted her basket of cleaning goodies. "If yer busy I can come back later." She offered, carefully neutral.

House shook his head, his mind made up. "No. It's fine, I was just going out." He stood back to let her in and then limped towards the bedroom. He bent and snagged his camera, time he actually saw some of this island. He shrugged his jacket on over his black tee shirt and then limped back towards the door. He was surprised to see the girl was already in the kitchen cleaning industriously.

Not that there was much to clean, Cuddy had attacked the dishes before she'd gone but if that's what the girl was paid for, he was in no position to tell her how to do her job. She looked up and waved to him once as he left.

He nodded in return and then stepped out onto the cobbled path of the small cottage garden. He clapped the blue front door shut behind him and then swung out of the gate. He supposed he could go down to the beach, not exactly prime terrain for someone with a cane but he was just curious enough to go and look.

He turned himself that way and started walking. He would probably regret it later but the only thing worse than having a leg that felt like it was trying to swallow itself in mind numbing pain, was to be bored with a leg that felt like it was trying to devour itself.

Anything for a distraction.

Cuddy stood on the edge of the rocks and peered down over the edge. The wind seemed to rush up and try and push her back from the drop but she grinned and leant into it instead of backing away.

The waves crashed against the cliff face below her and Cuddy's smile widened at the familiar sound. She opened her eyes to look down into the nearly turquoise water roiling not twelve feet below her. Spray arced up on the wind and prickled over her skin.

She shivered at the sensation and then turned around to hop across the rocks and down towards the sandy beach. Her movements were sure and accurate, not once did her bare feet slip on the slick rocks.

She leaped off a six foot high natural wall and crouched to absorb the impact. Her toes sank into the sand and she revelled in the tactile sensation. She sprang upright again and then jogged down to the water line, the wet sand was hard beneath her feet and easier to run on than the loose sand further up the beach.

She was running parallel to the white tipped waves that curled and smashed over and over again when a sudden mischievous urge possessed her.

A wave rolled towards the beach and Cuddy leaped upwards and sideways with a laugh. Her toes skimmed over the wave as she tucked her legs up close to her body and then water splashed up around her in a salty shock as she crashed down on the other side. The water surged up around her hips in a swirling pull and Cuddy laughed as the wave sunk back towards the sea before another surged up to replace it splashing over her chest.

Cuddy laughed in a purely inner-child's delight. She had always raced the waves when she was younger and now that there was no one here to see, she felt it was perfectly alright to burn off some of hr excess energy with a game.

The upside of acute sexual frustration (if you could convince yourself that there was an upside) was that you had bags of energy that was just screaming to be used.

The downside, of course, being that you wanted to grab a certain colleague and nail him to the bed until you were both boneless and sagging with satiation.

Cuddy scowled as her thoughts took a southward turn, she waded deeper into the water in the vain hope that near hypothermia might save her from her imagination. She had just _had_ to wake up that morning and find out first, ahem, hand that House really didn't need his cane to compensate for anything.

Eventually the cold became too much for even her heated thoughts, and Cuddy turned back towards the shore and splashed up the beach and onto the sand. She padded through the sand and right up to the dunes before flopping down and panting to regain her breath.

"Having fun?"

Cuddy just about leaped five feet in the air as the familiar and slightly mocking voice dripped into her ears. She scrambled backwards and squinted up at him. "God, House, don't do that!" Cuddy pressed a hand to her chest as she felt her heart hammering beneath her palm.

Her eyes fell to the camera hanging around his neck and she swallowed as she tried to regain her composure. She licked her lips and tasted the ocean as she rested her elbows on her knees.

"Aren't you cold?" He asked her as he dropped down onto the sand next to her. She watched as he tossed his cane aside and lifted the camera to the horizon, spinning the lens between his fingers to alter the focus.

"A little." She hedged as she watched him with interest as he shifted slightly and then snapped a shot of the view before them.

"Hmm, did you do that when you were a kid?" he looked at her when she didn't answer immediately. "Chase the waves, I mean."

"I know what you mean and yeah, I did." She was silent a moment. "You?"

House shrugged as he settled back on one elbow, the camera cradled between his hands almost lovingly. "Didn't much care for beaches. I liked the water, though, if I was going to be in it I was way out there. Used to drive my mom nuts when she could only see a tiny little me on the horizon of the big blue." He lifted his hand and held his fingers an inch apart to illustrate as he squinted out to sea.

"So you were always like this?"

"Like what?" He looked up at her as she sat there in her nearly see-through sweats.

"Rebellious, just doing things because it pissed people off, playing with your life even when you knew it hurt people that cared about you." Cuddy stiffened as the words slipped from her mouth before she could think about them.

"I'm in pain, Cuddy." He told her softly.

"I know…forget it. I don't want to fight. I'm tired of fighting." She sighed and rose to her feet. She looked at him a moment and then offered her hand. She was almost surprised when he took it. She helped him to his feet and looked up as thunder boomed overhead, the rain began to fall almost immediately.

Cuddy gave a mental shrug, she was already soaked to the skin. House didn't seem that bothered either, he simply tucked his camera into its case and then pulled his jacket shut and flipped the collar up.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." He told her as they began the walk back to the cottage. "You seem to enjoy our little spats so much when we're at work." He teased her.

She moved along the road, going slowly so he could keep up with her, the tarmac beneath her feet was still warm from the sun a few minutes previously but the air had taken on a charged atmosphere. Cuddy had a feeling that it was about to get wild.

"Well, we're not at work now and after a while it begins to sound a bit like a broken record." She told him as the rain poured down on her feeling clean and washing the salt from her skin and clothes.

"Aw, but Cuddy, hasn't anyone ever told you that you're angry when your beautiful?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes, she was just too damn frustrated for this conversation and flirting suggestions that he either didn't mean or was to afraid to implement. "Right, anyone ever tell you you're an ass when you're breathing?" She shot back and carried on walking.

House smirked at her back, enjoying the fact that her white tank top was now completely see through against her wet skin and those delightful cut off sweats were beginning to look very brief indeed. He was making better progress now that he had something solid beneath his cane. Now all he needed was something solid beneath his argument.

He hobbled in front of her and forced her to stop.

"That's right, we're _not_ at work. That opens up a whole barrel of possibilities, wouldn't you say?" He looked down at her and had to raise his voice over the rising storm.

He saw something flicker in her gaze before it was abruptly snuffed out. "No." She said flatly and skirted around him to continue walking back to the cottage.

He turned to watch her, his jaw tightening in frustration. It was really hard to seduce someone when they were doing their damndest to shoot him down at every opportunity. Something that Cuddy specialised in.

His mind raced as he thought. He was going to have to do something drastic.

A sudden thought occurred to him as he ambled after her.

The truth was pretty damn drastic.

"I lied!" He called after her.

"What?!" Cuddy turned to him as he stood watching her in the rain.

"I said I lied when I said you were beautiful!" He raised his voice over the splatter of rain against their skin and the surrounding landscape. It was hammering down on them, sleeking her curls down against her shoulders, soaking through the thin material of her sweats and plastering it to her fantastic body, slicking her skin so that it would slide against his so easily if he were to touch her.

And, oh, how he wanted to touch her.

"If you're trying to get back on my good side then you're really not going about it the right way!" She nearly yelled at him and turned to walk away again. Her feet silent against the road in the darkening afternoon.

He limped after her. She couldn't be that mad, she was still walking slowly enough that he could keep up with her. If she was truly pissed all she had to do was to break into a jog and leave him to trail after her.

"Let me finish." He told her and snagged her wrist as she lifted her hand to open the gate to the cottage garden. Lightening streaked overhead but they both ignored it, to taken up by the storm raging between them. "I said that I thought you were beautiful when you're angry and I lied."

She rolled her eyes and moved to turn from him again but he pulled her back insistently.

"I meant you were gorgeous." He told her as he stared down into her stunned face. Her lips parted and slick, raindrops gathering on her lashes like diamonds and her chest heaving in suppressed temper.

"What?"

"When you're angry. You're _beyond_ beautiful. 'Beautiful' is too tame a word for what you are because when people say 'beautiful' they mean serene and when you're pissed you're so hot you steam. Your pupils dilate, your skin flushes, your chest heaves, your pulse races, you become unfocused and almost dazed looking and, when you're like that, God when you're like that, it looks like you've just come so _hard_."

She stared up at him, stunned at the words that were pouring from his mouth like rain was pouring from the sky. He was almost shouting at her over the storm, but that was somehow fitting as their entire relationship appeared to be based on screaming matches.

He smiled down at her then, a look of male triumph. "And it's _always_ me that's put that look on your face."

She looked at him, stunned for a moment and he just stared down at her. Waiting for her to make the next move. He was hers for the taking. All she had to do was reach out and grab him.

"You…you mean you piss me off because you like the way it _looks_?"

He grinned down at her. "Sure, why else would I do it?"

Anger suddenly flared in her. He wanted temper? Fine. She'd give him all the anger he could handle and then some. A snarl issued from between clenched teeth and her palm lashed out and slapped into his shoulder with a wet clap of sound that sent a shockwave of water out from his sodden clothes.

"My God, you're infuriating! You just have to push and push, don't you?" She hauled her arm out of his grip and then marched into the garden, her feet sinking into the springy turf of the lawn. Then she turned back, apparently not finished with him. "I'm so sick of you, Greg House, I'm so tired of being yanked to the end of my tether and not being able to…"

She cut herself off abruptly, her chest heaved and she gave a muffled sound of anguished rage. She spun on her heel, resolved to go into the cottage and get away from him. She didn't count on his hand snaking out and latching around her wrist again though.

She yelped and it was swallowed by the storm as she was swung roughly around and she slapped into his chest. "You're sick of this too, hmm? Well guess what, gorgeous, I'm a little sick of being yelled at and not being able to do what I want to do."

"Really?" She demanded snidely, trying to pry herself away from him but his arm held her close easily. "And what do you want to do?"

She was daring him, they both knew it, she just wasn't sure if she wanted him to take that next step or not.

Want or not, he did it anyway.

His mouth crashed down on hers as thunder boomed overhead seemingly caused by the impact of his lips on hers. His arm tightened at her back and lifted her against his chest, crushing her too him in a mess of wet clothes and hot skin. She moaned into his mouth as her tongue writhed against his. Her teeth nipped his lips and her arms climbed up around her neck as his hand slid down over her ass and pressed her hard against the rigid length of his cock.

She moaned and squirmed closer, desperate for that one more inch of contact, she was so close.

They stumbled towards the cottage, House was dimly aware that he should get them out of the storm. Her back met the slick painted wood of the door and she whimpered as the impact caused him to jolt against her.

She hissed at the delicious sensation of hard wood at her back and hard hot man at her front. The rain splashed over them both, dripping down his face and over his mouth to drip from his lips and onto hers.

The strap for the camera bag slipped along his arm and it thumped softly to the step, his cane clattered to the ground leaving his hands free to roam over her. The tank top was fisted in one hand and hauled up and off, the built in bra going with it so she was naked and slick to his fingers.

"Oh, God!" She choked as she arched when his mouth closed over one pebbled nipple. She whimpered. His hand found her hips and jerked her against him so that his hard cock ground intimately against her hot core. The rough material of the denim scraping her fantastically through the thin material of her sweats.

Her leg slid up and over his to hook over his hip and anchor there. She had no plans to let him go anywhere in the near future. Her fingers tunnelled through his hair and she yanked his head up so that his mouth could reach hers again for another toe-curling kiss.

He grumbled a low growl of desire from deep in his chest and the sound seemed to vibrate through her and scrape over her nerves in a gorgeous shudder of sensation. She moaned and arched against him.

His hand slipped down over her hip and hard against her to stroke her heat through her pants. She cried out on the verge of explosion and then…

Then the world fell.

Cuddy yelped as the door was suddenly yanked away from her back.

Both she and Greg had been completely unprepared for this turn in events and predictably crashed forward and slammed into the hardwood floor of the entryway to the cottage. Cuddy gasped as House managed to catch them mainly on his arm but the impact was still fairly jarring.

"Jesus H. Christ. Third time this week."

Cuddy looked up, thankful for the moment that Greg was preserving some modicum of modesty for her with his body, and her blue, livid, gaze clashed with a small girl with dark hair and pale skin with a cleaning basket in her hand.

She stared down at Greg and Lisa for one long moment, her hand still on the door and then neatly stepped over them. She picked up Greg's cane and camera and leant back in the door to deposit them neatly on the hallway table.

She smiled and nodded to them before turning sharply on her heel and marching down the path.

Cuddy watched her go and then let herself flop back against the floor. She reached up with both hands to slap them down over her face.

Then she screamed.

**Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaah!**

**Oh, come on, don't give me that look, y'all knew I was evil. I didn't even plan on updating this today after spending all that time on my book but, alas, I was inspired, so here we are. **

**IrnBruOrDeath, does the cleaning lady look familiar? **

**You know that's what you'd do. **

**I say again: Mwahahahahahahahahaha!**

**I just needed something cheery after writing that scene in 'How Could They Not?' oh FFS I am DEFINITELY changing that title what a bloody handful to type it all the fookin time!**

**Sorry peeps, no preview this time, this just came straight out of my brain. Which is really a more frightening prospect than I want to think about. **

**Anyways, read and review, coz ye know ye wanna. **

**HIT THAT PURPLE BUTTOOOOON!!!!!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I gots one word for ya kiddies…**

**SMUT!!!!!**

**Since y'all were so upset with me last time I figured I might as well come up with the goods, before Prinnie hunts me down and mauls me into writing it anyway. **

**I hope this redresses the karmic scales a little and changes my status from 'Big Meanie' and 'tease' to something a little less…flay worthy. **

**Anyways, hit that big ol' purple button on yer way out and I'll keep writing to that Preview that I left for ye at the end. **

**So wrong but so right at the same time, no? **

**Chapter 6: Temporary Insanity**

Greg jumped in surprise as the raw primal sound of Lisa's muffled scream shot right through him. Somehow she managed to cram every last iota of frustration, anger and raw lust that had been plaguing her the last couple of days into that single drawn out syllable.

He looked down at her as she scrubbed her hands down over her still wet face. "Feel better?" He asked her in a cheerful tone.

She scowled at him and shoved him off her with one angry push. House toppled onto his back as she swore a vicious litany that must have turned the air blue and pushed herself to her feet. She marched along the corridor and slammed into the bedroom.

House was aware of the shower being switched on and another door slamming as he stared at the ceiling. He sighed and lifted his good leg to kick the front door shut.

Unfulfilled desire coursed through him and throbbed in his loins. He reached down and grimaced as he tried to adjust his jeans to a more comfortable fit.

It was no good.

He considered getting up, but there really was no point. Being vertical wouldn't make him feel any better.

However, after another ten minutes of lying on the floor and thinking celibate thoughts, his leg began to ache and he'd left his vicodin on the kitchen table. He sighed and sat up to snag his cane from the hallway table. Levering himself to his feet, Greg decided that food might not be out of order. If he couldn't sate one hunger he might as well quench another.

He ambled along to the kitchen to discover that the cleaning maid had put on the dinner for them. At least she'd done something right. Steaks with pepper sauce, carrots mashed in with turnip and creamy mashed potatoes…if only he _needed_ all this red meat.

House considered going and asking Lisa if she was hungry, but in the interests of his health, decided discretion was the better part of valour. She was probably in the shower cursing herself for getting involved in a healthy game of tonsil tennis with an employee. She'd rage, wallow in guilt for a while and then she'd come out and put a brave face on before she continued to martyr herself to her own frustration.

Sometimes it was a real pain in the ass knowing her so well, if they'd been strangers then she probably wouldn't have hesitated. She was still young, a woman in her prime, the only reason she didn't get any action, he'd bet, is because a) he kept foiling any possible dates that came her way and b) she spent nearly every waking moment at the hospital.

Greg stilled as an epiphany exploded in glorious Technicolor in his mind.

No, she'd never go for it.

He remembered the sheer anguish of that scream.

Then again…he who dares wins…and House _never_ lost.

Lisa staggered out of her shower, shivering violently and snagged the nearest towel before gratefully wrapping herself in it. She looked at herself in the mirror, which wasn't steamed because her shower had been just this side of arctic, and noted that her skin was a good deal paler and there was a definite blue tinge to her lips.

She scowled. Heat still hammered through her veins. Her mind may rebel at the fact that House was all wrong for her but her body was definitely of the opinion that it did not give a rat's ass so long as it was satisfied.

Lisa knotted the towel more securely at her breast and briefly considered pulling on more clothes, she grimaced at the mere thought of how restrictive a pair of pants and a shirt would feel at this precise moment in time.

Screw it, she was keeping the towel.

She winced, bad choice of words.

Lisa strode out into the bedroom and looked out the window at the storm that still raged against the sturdy cottage walls. She was so…wired. She wanted to run again. She had spent practically all day bounding about the island and still she was nearly vibrating with energy.

She threw open the door and strode out into the hallway. She padded down to the front door and then spun around to stride back the way she had come, she didn't stop until she reached the dining table before spinning around and walking back towards the front door again.

She knew the weather was too harsh for her to go out for another run, besides it was getting dark, but the temptation was there. She spun on her heel and kept walking, scrubbing her hands through her wet hair as it tangled down her back and around her face and huffing out a breath. She could hear the television on in the lounge and knew that he would probably be sprawled across the couch completely okay with the fact that he had brought her to within an inch of bliss and then let her go.

Lisa scowled, she hadn't let a guy do that to her since…wait, she had never let a guy leave her wanting. She was an equal opportunities kind of woman, she was all for pleasure so long as she had her share as well. She tore her fingers through her hair again and resisted the strong urge to howl again.

Lisa noticed, on her next jaunt through the dining room, that there was the distinct smell of food. She was hungry but her stomach cramped at the thought of food. Her body was still screaming for sex, not steak, and she had no doubt that meat would not be a fulfilling substitute.

"What are you doing?"

Lisa lifted her head from watching her feet to glare at him. She knew it wasn't his fault the maid had interrupted, but she felt like blaming someone and he did have the misfortune to be there. "Walking." She snapped and spun on her heel to disappear down the hall again.

He waited patiently for her to come back into the dining room and then shut the door behind her. They were_ having_ this conversation. "I know that, but why are you walking?"

"Because it's too dark to go out on a run." She turned around and glared at him when she realised he had shut the door and was now leaning against it. She simply spun and walked to the oven before turning and walking the length of the kitchen and then the dining room table.

He suppressed a sigh. She needed to walk, fine, but at least he could actually have a talk with her now. He wondered idly how to go about this, then he shrugged, he had never been one for subtlety, he didn't see why he should start now. He watched her on her next passing and enjoyed the subtle scent of her shower gel and shampoo, the woman even smelled gorgeous.

"Do you want me?" He asked bluntly.

Her immediate answer was to whirl to see him while still trying to walk and stumble into the table. "What?" She gripped the edge of the polished wood and stared at him like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"I said do you want me?" He leant casually on his cane, his hair still damp, his tee shirt stretched across his chest and his jeans clinging wetly to his long legs. She took in every detail and swallowed hard.

"We can't have this conversation." She muttered and looked away.

"Sure we can. You were just, literally, screaming for me. You've been out everyday running yourself into the ground just so you can sleep at night, you're blue because that shower you just had was so cold and you won't touch any food because you're hungry for something entirely different." He told her smoothly as he crossed the room towards her and pulled out one of the dining chairs to sit down in front of her. He let his gaze rake over the brief towel that clung to her, one tug and it would be off. "So, I really think it's past time that we had this little chat."

"Don't." She almost pleaded.

"Don't what?" His fingers trailed lightly over her knee.

"Don't make me insane." She muttered on a hitched breath as his fingers slipped lightly over the inside of her knee. She was so sensitive to him.

"I make you insane?" He asked on a slight smile.

"The definition of insanity is to repeat the same actions and expect a different result, I'm not an idiot, if I get involved with you then you'll hurt me."

He stilled at that and then lifted his eyes to hers. Lightening flashed outside and thunder rolled directly over their heads. "I'm not asking for a lifelong commitment, Lisa, I'm asking for you to spend this vacation with me and enjoy it to it's fullest potential." He smirked lightly. "Temporary insanity at most."

"We're all wrong for each other." She choked as he slid his palm over the curve of her thigh and brushed his thumb against the hem of the towel. He tugged her inexorably towards him and she slid a few inches closer to him.

"I disagree." He murmured and reached up to circle his fingers around her wrist, tugging her torso down towards his. "How can something so wrong, feel so right?" he pulled her hand over to splay her palm against his chest, she could feel his heart thumping in the cage of his ribs. He slid her hand down, under his, over his belly and across the waist band of his jeans to stroke over the hard evidence of his arousal there.

Her lips were scant inches from his and he could feel the warm wash of her breath against his jaw. She suppressed a whimper and ducked her head down so as not to look at him. "I want you, Lisa, right here, right now. Two weeks is all I'm asking, no strings, we can be Mr and Mrs Smith if you want and then we go back to Status Quo when we go back home."

She inhaled a deep and shuddering breath before turning back to him. Her other hand slid around his neck to tunnel into his hair and then she tugged his head towards hers. She moaned at the contact and he smiled as he realised he had won. His hands slid along her knees and parted her legs, he gave a small tug and she slid from the tabletop and down to straddle his lap. She arched towards him and deepened the kiss so that their tongues tangled together and his teeth nipped against her lips.

Her fingers found the edge of his tee shirt and she pulled away from him so that she could yank it over his head and toss it away with a wet slap onto the tiled floor of the kitchen. She stared at him in a slightly dazed manner as she smoothed her hands across his shoulders and down the length of his arms, she worried her lips between her teeth like she wasn't quite sure what to do with him next.

He grinned, he loved a dazed looking Cuddy.

He reached up almost casually and slipped his finger into the knot of towel at her breasts, it came apart easily and the towel flopped to the floor with barely a sound, oh he definitely liked towels. Easy on and easy off. His hands cupped her waist and then smoothed round and over her back, then down to cup her ass and tug her closer to his raging erection.

Her slick folds came into contact with the rough denim and she gave a gasping mewl of pleasure and ground down against him as her fingers found his hair again and she moaned before seizing him in another toe curlingly fantastic kiss. Her hand smoothed down over his chest, tickled over his belly and then flipped the fastening of his jeans open with one practiced move.

The wind howled against the cottage and lightening flashed against a roar of thunder as she pushed her hand deep inside his pants and the zipper split against the back if her hand. Her fingers wrapped around him and he growled as she stroked the length of him.

Well two could play at that game. He ducked his head and swirled his tongue around one spiked nipple, she groaned and thrust her chest against his mouth as her hand tightened around his cock. His fingers slid over her core and then pushed inside her, his thumb rolled over her clit and she screamed, throwing her head back as she clamped around him with hot inner muscles.

He chuckled, more than happy to do it all over again as she leant back against the edge of the table and panted. He moved his mouth to her other breast and twisted his fingers inside her. She moaned and arched on her toes to grind against the contact. She lifted her head and her passion glazed eyes clashed with his as her grip tightened on his hair.

"Greg, dahrlin', finesse me later, fuck me now." She demanded as she reached down and tugged his jeans away so that she could have full access to him.

The woman had a way with words, he'd give her that.

He gripped her hips as she arched over him and pulled her down sharply to plunge into her in one deep thrust. She cried out again and convulsed around him like a velvet fist, her nails scored over his shoulders and down his back and she hissed with pleasure. "Oh _yes_!"

His arms wrapped around her waist and her hands gripped his shoulders as he kissed and nipped her throat. She lifted herself up on her toes, her long legs flexing as she arched off of him and then a small grin kicking her lips as she thrust back down onto him in one smooth lunge. He did some groaning of his own at that point and moved his hold back to her hips so he could help her ride him.

Not that she really needed any help, god only knew how many nights of unfulfilled desires had given her more than enough motivation to make sure that he enjoyed this as much as she did.

And she was _really_ enjoying it.

She lowered her lips to his again and enjoyed the way he tasted on her mouth. He was right, as usual, it didn't feel wrong.

It didn't feel wrong at all.

She gasped as his hand slid from her hip to where they were joined and he caught her clit with his thumb. It wasn't much but it was more than enough.

For the second time that night, she screamed in pleasure and came apart for him.

Greg watched the pleasure wash over her face with a self-satisfied smirk before shouting and falling over the edge after her.

He held her close, his hand rubbing her back idly as she rested her cheek against his shoulder and panted softly against his neck. He sagged against the chair, for the moment, completely sated.

She moaned softly and shifted against him, her muscles twisted over him and he jerked inside her. They both jumped at the sensation and then she lifted her head on a chuckle and rested her elbow on his shoulder and her chin on her hand.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that I needed that." She noted on a smile as she danced her fingers around his nipple. "Being temporarily insane and all."

"Hmm." He looked at her and at the light dancing in her eyes. The thunder rumbled somewhat sullenly in the distance. "Thing about that is…it has a nasty habit of relapse." He told her.

Her eyebrows rose as she smothered a smile. "Really? What do you recommend if I'm misfortunate enough to have a dreaded relapse?" She asked innocently, though the way she was clenching and relaxing her inner muscles over him was anything but.

His hips thrust involuntarily and she gave a low feminine chuckle that he had never heard from her before and he was more than willing to do anything to hear it again. "The only treatment is to have someone go crazy with you." He choked as he straightened in his chair and tried to look serious while he had a hot woman draped all over him.

Not that he planned on letting her go anywhere any time soon.

"Hmm…Greg." She was swirling her tongue around his ear and then nibbling little bites down his neck.

"What?" His voice was almost a whisper as he gripped her hips and rolled her against him. She moaned soft and sweet in his ear.

"Definitely having a relapse."

"Oh, well…what a pity." He smiled against her lips right before he took her mouth in a searing, crazy, kiss.

It turned out that Lisa was prone to relapse.

Several times over.

**!!!!!PREVIEW KIDDIES!!!!!**

**(a few chapters away though)**

_House smiled pleasantly at the stewardess as he passed her on the way to the toilet. He hadn't figured Cuddy for the type to suffer air-sickness. He wondered if there was something else wrong with her. _

_He knocked on the thin folding door of the bathroom. "Lisa?" He called softly. _

_The door whipped open, catching Greg by surprise and a slim feminine hand reached out, bunched in his shirt and yanked him into the tiny bathroom. _

_Lisa thrust her fingers through his hair and yanked his head down to hers for a scalding _

_kiss that had him backing her up against the miniscule sink and grinding against her. She moaned in appreciation before releasing him on a gasping pant._

"_You a member of the Mile High Club?" _

"_What?" _

"_No?" Her hands slithered over his belt and had it unbuckled and his jeans unsnapped before he could fully comprehend her words. "Oh goody, I get to induct you." Her smile was wicked as she hopped onto the countertop and pulled him between her thighs. _

_House's cane clattered to the floor as he bent his head to hers again. **Oh well**, he mused, **I'm always up for trying new things**. _


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Alrighty then! Here I am, bow before me, show me your love, okay, that's enough, my benevolence is assured. **

**And to prove it, I have descended from upon high to bestow a new chapter upion thee, mere mortal…God I've had a lot of caffeine, **

**SPEAKING OF (god not caffeine, though I've got to wonder about a connection sometimes) I tried to look for a copy of Dogma today, and could I find one? Could I buggery, but then I had to spend the money on train fair anyway instead of waiting an hour and a half for the bus sigh no monies. **

**I'll need to take up buskin. **

**Uuuum…jam, the poem is called 'the Confirmation' by the one and only Edwin Muir (who?) and is taken from the book 'Handfast' which I commandeered for my advanced higher English and never actually used, but anyways, I thought I might as well have a dash of some actual emotion in this one (aside from abject lust I mean) so…read and review. **

**HIT THAT PURPLE BUUTTOOOOONNN!!!!!!! (imagine in basso profundo voice with dramatic over score in the background, no one can say I don't have a flair for the dramatic) **

**Chapter 7: Confirmation **

Greg looked down at Lisa as she slept peacefully next to him. He was lying on his stomach and she was sprawled next to him on her back. Her arms were thrown up around her head and her hair haloed darkly around her head. Her lips were a soft pout, her cheeks were lightly flushed and she was completely, gloriously, naked.

He reached out with one hand and lightly trailed a finger over her brow and down over the angle of her cheek. She gave a small frown and murmured incoherently. He smiled and continued his trail down her throat, across her collar bone and then over the curve of her breast. She shifted again and smiled this time. He smirked as she wriggled a little closer to him. As usual she had slept longer than he had, his leg waking him about an hour ago, complaining after the night of exertion that he had subjected it to. He grinned at the memories, she had definitely needed what he had been prescribing.

They had moved from the chair to the table and then had dinner around about midnight, plates had not been all that essential and dessert had been a rather messy but extremely pleasurable experience. He wondered how she was going to act when she woke up. He wondered if she was going to be the same laughing sexy woman as last night or if she as going to panic and drive herself insane over having slept with her subordinate…not that they had actually done much sleeping.

He propped his head on his hand as she rolled towards him and squirmed into his larger frame. Seeking warmth probably. He had thrown the quilt off her earlier so he could look at her unencumbered. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer so that her head could rest on his bicep, her favoured pillow.

'It's kind of disturbing, you know.' She informed him on a sleep slurred voice as she sighed happily and pressed herself against him so as to steal as much heat from him as possible.

'What is?' He asked her and reached down so he could pull the quilt over her again. He wasn't personally cold but he figured she might be a little nicer to him if she weren't freezing.

'You sitting there watching me sleep.' She told him and then rolled slightly so that she could look up at him with bright sea coloured eyes. A slight smile kicked her lips.

'But you weren't really asleep if you knew I was watching.' He reasoned and her smile kicked higher. 'Besides, I'm lying down, not sitting.'

'You should have been a lawyer.' She grumbled and wriggled closer still, she was absolutely freezing and he was just throwing off heat. 'How do you stay so warm?'

'It's all the warm and fuzzy feelings I give off, they have a backlash effect.' He cheerfully informed her and swept a stray curl out of her face.

She chuckled at that and buried her face against his chest. Then she turned and looked up at him again, the smile slipped slightly from her face. 'This is really strange, really…different.'

'Different good or different bad?' He asked her as he ran a finger over her cheek again, she was so soft.

'Well, I'm not sure yet. What do you think?' Her fingers trailed down over his chest and she raised herself up on her elbow and tilted her head towards him.

'I think that we shouldn't think too much. Are you going to go nuts about this?'

'I thought we both went a little nuts last night and I really don't like to repeat myself. This is just a vacation thing, sex, no strings, maybe dinner.' She grinned at him. 'But we can't let it be anything more, as long as we keep it to that then…I think we can just enjoy each other.' She stroked her hand back up from his belly and then over his chest to cup his shoulder. 'Don't you?'

'Hmm.' He rubbed absently at his leg as he thought about her proposition. He looked down at her and frowned when he saw her staring at his leg.

'Did I hurt you?' She sounded absolutely horrified at the prospect of doing him harm. He ignored the little leap his heart gave at that knowledge and spoke quickly to ease her.

'No, just a habit.' He froze as her fingers reached our and trailed around his twisted scar. She worried her lip between her teeth as she cautiously examined the old wound. Her eyes flew back to his.

'You're sure you're okay?'

'Hmm.' He grinned and flopped onto his back. 'Kiss me better.' He tugged her over his chest to sprawl against him and have her hair fall in a sweeping silky curtain down over his shoulder. He loved her hair, loved pushing his fingers through it as he slid his mouth against hers, loved the feel of her smooth skin heating against his as he stroked his hands over her body, loved the way she gave little moans as she shivered with pleasure in his arms.

'You're a big guy, where to start?' She tapped her lips with one manicured finger as she pretended to think on the problem. 'Here?' She pressed her lips to his ear and swirled her tongue wetly there. He shivered and then folded his arms behind his head, feigning nonchalance. 'No? How about here then?' Her lips pressed to the harsh plane of his cheek, then lower onto his chin, the pulse at his throat, the swell of his pectoral muscle, the spike of his nipple, the ridge of his abs and then corner of his hip.

By this point, Greg had his hands fisted behind his head and the veins stood out on his rigid arms as he willed himself not to just grab her and roll her beneath him. He forced himself to heave in a long shuddering breathe as she swirled patterns on his hip with her tongue even as her finger walked over the muscle of his thigh to dance and circle around his turgid flesh. He threw his head back and moaned, his eyes shuttering in pleasure as she stroked him languidly up and down.

'No? None of those places?' There was a distinct sound of amusement in her voice as she ran her fingers over him and swirled her thumb over his head.

What the hell was she talking about again?

'Lower then?'

Oh God, no, not lower, right where she was thank-you-very-much. No. Stop, where are you going? Why are you letting go of me?

All of these questions bubbled about in Greg's lust filled head but all he could seem to verbalise was. 'Aaaahh…mmmm, good.'

Lisa appeared to not hear him as she let her mouth lead her on a happy trail down his thigh, the muscle flexing involuntarily as she flicked her fingers over his hot length one last time. She kissed her way down over his knee, nipped his calf, licked his ankle and then tickled his feet with her fingers. He jumped again at that but she was already ascending his other leg. He tensed when she reached his scar, but she refused to notice, she soothed her hand over the twisted ripple of flesh pressed on soft kiss to it and then moved on to her next stop in the mapping of Gregory House.

'Hmm…only one place left then.' She noted somewhat innocuously. Greg's hips arched and he groaned his encouragement. He opened his eyes when he felt her hair brush his shoulder again. He saw her laughing down at him and growled, whipping his hands up and snatching her shoulders in a firm but light grip.

'Minx!' He accused her and rolled her beneath him. His mouth crashed down on hers and she moaned as his head angled fiercely to her, his tongue thrusting into her mouth and claiming her lips in a fiery brand of possession. Her fingers dug through his hair and her leg slid along the length of his and then slipped around his hips. He reached with one hand to grip her thigh and hold her there as he tore his mouth from hers and blazed kisses, nips and sucks down her throat, over the curve of her breast and swirled his tongue around the hard pebble of her nipple.

'Ah!' She gasped and arched her spine, thrusting her chest against his mouth in mindless paralysing need. 'More!' She moaned as he thrust his pelvis against hers and the hard ridge of him slid along her slippery folds. She whimpered at the brush of contact and her nails scraped at his skin in a silent urging. Her other leg wrapped around him and dragged him closer still. He laced his fingers through hers and then pinned their hands above her head with his weight.

Then she was helpless to the assault of his mouth on her, the way he sucked at her throat leaving a bruise of his possession there, the way he scraped his jaw over the soft skin of her inner arm and the way he licked and kissed her breasts until she was arching and crying out for him to move, to take her, to do _something_ that would let her tumble over the edge into euphoria.

The quilts slithered off the bed and the pillows were tossed aside as she wrestled with him, trying to goad him into taking her, but she was no match for the sheer weight of his larger body pressing down on hers. She eventually stilled, her chest heaving in great gusting pants as she huffed her hair out of her eyes and glared at him.

'You're doing this on purpose.' Her voice didn't sound like her own. Passion hazed, husky and breathless with the burden of her own desire.

'Of course.' He grinned down at her and dropped a few more of those infuriating teasing kisses on her lips.

'Why?' She tried not to beg as he kept her effortlessly pinned. Her hips rolled up against his and he shut his eyes and shivered, not totally immune to what she could still do to him.

'Because I want you to remember.' He cut off as she succeeded in wriggling a little closer to him. He glared at her like he might admonish a child and she grinned wickedly.

'Remember what? How I reduced the great Gregory House to "Aaah…mmm, good"?' She teased him, not caring if he was goaded into doing something rash. At the moment rash was just what she needed.

'No.' He told her patiently and tightened his grip on her hands, she squeezed back. 'I want you to remember that I had you like this, hot and wanting and fighting for me.' He punctuated each word with industrious use of that wicked mouth of his. 'I want you to remember that I'm the only one that can do this to you.' He told her, his laser blue eyes flashing up to collide with hers. 'Because I'm _never_ going to forget.'

She stared, stunned, at him for a moment before he dropped down towards her and pressed a devouring kiss to her mouth at exactly the same moment he twisted his hips and lunged inside her. He swallowed her scream and absorbed her convulsions around him as she exploded for him.

Just for him.

His back bowed and arched in a sinuous twist that had her gasping as he thrust deep inside her. He released one of her hands and buried his face in her throat as she gripped his shoulder and lunged to meet him. His teeth were bared against her skin as he struggled to hold onto control. Her ankles were locked in the small of his back and she spurred him on as she threw back her head and screamed again as pleasure assailed her and had her shivering under him and around him in clenching wet heat.

He kissed her harshly once more as he thrust once, twice, three times and then groaned his release as he exploded into her.

They shivered together as if freezing and he pressed his forehead to hers and relaxed down on top of her. He still managed to take the bulk of his weight on his quivering elbows, though he wasn't quite sure how he managed it and his hand was still holding onto hers above her head.

He lifted his head sharply as a sudden thought occurred to him. 'Are you on the pill?'

She stiffened beneath him and then rolled her head to look at him incredulously. She nodded once and then began to laugh. She slapped his shoulder and shoved him off her, still chuckling and he looked at her askance.

'What?'

'We really need to work on your post-coital chat.'

He lay on his back thinking about that and then tugged her over so that she could rest her head on his chest again. He had grown used to her acting the warm living blanket and he was cold…and that was all! He decided not to think about how he had never forgotten about protection with anyone else and spoke instead.

'You mentioned dinner earlier.'

She stifled a yawn and nodded against his warm shoulder. She really was obscenely comfortable just sleeping on him like this. 'That I (yawn) did.'

'Well, how about it then? We can toddle up to the castle and I can show you off to all the obscenely jealous guys up there.'

'Why are they obscenely jealous?'

'Because I'm screwing you.' He told her simply, though there was a note of affectionate undertone in his voice.

Far from being offended, she thought that was probably the sweetest thing he'd ever said to her. She laughed again and patted a hand against his chest. 'Definitely need to work on that mouth but I have no major objections to being wined and dined. Wait a minute, am I paying?'

'Neither of us is, Wilson's picking up the tab.' He grinned at her and she chuckled again and let her head fall back onto his chest. She savoured the warm feel of his hand stroking up and down her back.

She fell asleep to his fingers tracing patterns on her knee as it rested over his leg.

Greg looked down at her sleeping face and then back up at the ceiling. This was kind of nice, he mused to himself, not having to be careful about what he might say after a bout of brain-addling sex. Lisa was used to him, she just laughed. It was kind of refreshing actually.

He reached down and flipped the quilt up and over them. She sighed happily in her sleep and tightened her leg over his hips as her fingers unconsciously stroked his chest. He toyed with one of her dark curls and pursed his lips as he began to plot on how to best wake her when she'd finished napping.

A wicked smile curled his lips. Maybe it was a bit better than nice.

'Ugh, another place you can't go back to. Not even to apologise.' Lisa groused at him and thumped his shirt clad shoulder before stalking away from him.

Greg rolled his eyes and lunged after her to snag her wrist and pull her back under his arm. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, that guy was ogling you and it is my duty as person-much-bigger-than-you to defend your honour.'

'Knight in shining silk, hmm?' She mocked him lightly but didn't duck away from him again, instead she linked her fingers with his on her shoulder and was silent a moment as she listened to her heels click on the road.

'Ah, so you noticed, I thought I'd pulled out the big guns for nothing.' He winked at her in the moonlight and she smiled but turned away so he wouldn't see it.

'That guy's probably going to sue or something. He was just asking me what our cottage was like.' She felt she had to impress upon him that she couldn't protect him from rampant law-suits outside of her hospital.

'Ah! See? "Our cottage" the dude knew I was with you and he's still trying to chat you up. Miscreant.' He grumbled and let his arm rest a little heavier over her shoulders.

She elbowed him in the ribs, but only lightly. '_Our_ cottage apparently is very special.' She told him stressing the word only slightly.

He snorted and muttered something uncomplimentary but she continued as if he hadn't spoken.

'It's called the Heartstone Cottage because of a very special stone that is embedded in the wall right at the head of the bed.'

'Ooh, Philosopher's Stone, do I get to play Harry Potter? I've already got the wand.' Thankfully he was referring to his cane at this point and she laughingly shushed him as she continued.

'It's a heart-shaped piece of very rare pink granite and the reason it's heart-shaped is because no tool at the time it was quarried could split it successfully, so eventually they had to use it as is. Apparently, when married couples share the bed beneath the stone and read the writing on it they are blessed with a long and fruitful marriage. As well as amazingly acrobatic sex-lives.' She added cheerfully.

'Crap.' He stated emphatically. 'I refuse to believe that some stone is influencing my already amazing prowess in the sack. What did he mean _fruitful?_'

'Confidant aren't we? And I believe he was referring to the fact that the average number of children per family in this area is about seven.' She nudged him playfully as she spoke, her grin white on dark lips in the moonlight as it spilled down and haloed around her head.

'Of course I'm confidant. Bit difficult to be anything but when a certain someone begs for me every time I—ouch!' He winced and rubbed his side as her elbow met with it again. He decided in the interest of his bones' integrity that he should change the subject. 'Anyway, it doesn't matter because we're not married.' He looked at her sideways. 'Unless of course you've got some poor timid hubby stashed back at home that you've decided not to divulge?' He narrowed his eyes at her in pretend suspicion and she rolled her eyes as she pushed open the gate and strode up the garden path. She slipped the key into the lock and opened the blue door, studiously not thinking about the last time she had been closely acquainted with said door.

'That's about as likely as you doing a week's worth of clinic without being prompted and I do believe the occupants of the bed have to be married to each other for it to work.' She shot over her shoulder and stepped inside.

She sashayed straight through the cottage, absently noting that the maid had been again, and headed for the bedroom. She shrugged off her shawl and hung it on the back of a passing chair before rounding the freshly made bed and kicking off her heels before crawling up onto it to shuffle across on her knees and lean on the ornately carved headboard.

'Bit early for bed, isn't it? Of course if you're willing to make it worth my while…' Greg teased as he flopped onto the mattress behind her. She shot him a look over her shoulder and shushed him as she pulled aside the thick drapes around the bed to investigate the Heartstone for herself.

The thick green drapes parted to reveal a huge stone, shaped like a rough heart, that had been built into the wall. It had a deep rose pink hue to it with crimson veining through the stone. Ornate script had been carved into it and inlaid with silver so that the words could be read.

'Huh, there really is a stone.' She muttered to herself as she smoothed her fingers over the writing. The stone was smooth as if thousands of hands before hers had traced the same path.

Greg knelt up behind her and rested his chin on her bare shoulder, idly fidgeting with the strap of her dress as she knelt there. 'What does it say?'

'You can read it as easily as I can.' She told him and earned a nip from his teeth for it.

'Yes, but I'm asking you nicely to read it to me.' His fingers traced patterns on the warm skin of her shoulder.

Lisa tilted her head and held the curtains away as she let the light reflect off the silver writing and read the ancient words to him.

'_Yes, yours, my love, is the right human face._

_I in my mind had waited for this long,_

_Seeing the false and searching for the true,_

_Then found you as a traveller finds a place,_

_Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong_

_Valleys and rock and twisting roads. But you,_

_What shall I call you? A fountain in a waste,_

_A well of water in a country dry,_

_Or anything that's honest and good, an eye_

_That makes the whole world bright. Your open heart,_

_Simple with giving, gives the primal deed,_

_The first good world, the blossom, the blowing seed,_

_The hearth, the steadfast land, the wandering sea,_

_Not beautiful or rare in every part,_

_But like yourself, as they were meant to be.'_

Lisa ran her hand over the writing again as she had finished and convinced herself that she imagined the tremor in her voice and the charge of the stone under her hand. She was intensely aware of Greg watching her, his lips kissing her lightly on the curve of her shoulder.

'Thank you.' He said simply and she turned slowly in the circle of his arms to look at him. His head was tilted and he looked at her out of the corner of one blue eye as his thumb traced circles in the curve of her hip.

She licked her lips and had to swallow twice before she could summon words. 'Have you heard it before?'

He nodded once. 'It's called "The Confirmation" by Edwin Muir. It was one of my favourites when I was younger, worked the words into song lyrics once.'

Lisa shifted, inhaling deeply and stifling a moan when she could breathe in nothing but him. 'Who for?'

He shrugged, a small smile playing over his lips. 'I didn't know her at the time.' His unspoken words hung in the air between them and, looking back, Lisa would realise that this was the moment she began to fall in love with him.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hullo there, peeps, thought I'd better update for y'all. **

**Dunno how I like this chapter but…meh, the mood seemed in fitting with my own, so here we are. **

**No previews this time, kiddies but this is not the end, not nearly, mwaha. **

**Read and review because you know you want to. **

**Chapter 8: Last Days**

Greg grumbled a low growl as he awakened. He frowned, his eyes still closed, as he reached across the bed to lay his hands on Lisa. His eyes snapped open when he came up empty. He jerked his head up out of the pillows and blinked rapidly, spotting a small piece of paper folded in half, he snatched it up and scanned the flowing handwriting scrawled over it.

_Greg, _

_Gone for a run, didn't want to wake you as you were sleeping sound. _

_I'll be back in time for lunch. _

_See you then, _

_Lisa_.

Greg frowned and scrubbed a hand through his hair. That was odd. She hadn't been out on a run since that day he had found her down at the beach chasing the waves.

Today was their last full day on the island. Tomorrow they would be driven back to the airport. Then everything had to go back to the way it was before. They would go back to their separate houses, their separate jobs and their separate lives.

Greg shifted uncomfortably.

Why did that leave him with a hollow feeling in his chest?

Lisa slid to a halt and nearly sliced her foot open on a sharp rock. She winced at her own stupidity and resolved to be more careful with where she was putting her feet. Her chest heaved and she tilted her head back flexing her spine as she planted her hands on her hips. She panted in the harsh sea air and scrubbed a stray curl back behind her ear.

She leant forward and looked down over the miniature cliff she had found. Leaning into the wind again, she watched the waves smash themselves against the cliff base. The turquoise water roiled and was glassy clear allowing her to see right down the white sandy sea bed. Dogfish darted here and there like miniature sharks and a few see-through balloon jelly fish wafted in the water currents.

Lisa stood back and scanned the horizon as she tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with her. She had that same restless feeling again that had plagued her at the start of the vacation. No…this feeling was different, more hollow, more like she had lost something.

She rubbed at her temple with one hand as she turned the problem over and over in her mind. She paced back and forth along the cliff edge, her bare feet silent against the slick rocks. It was driving her insane. She had woken up this morning with peculiar energy simmering under skin. She'd had to get out, to run to clear her head and figure things out.

Only problem was, she couldn't quite seem to get to the figuring out part.

She had slipped out from under the warm weight of him, for once, succeeding in not waking him, she had dressed silently and then slipped out of the cottage, heading for the beach.

She worried her lip, she could really do with Greg's analytical mind on this but she didn't thin this was one of the things they could talk about. By silent agreement they had tacitly become Mr and Mrs Smith, they talked about everything, when they weren't in bed, but somehow always managed to steer clear of work or anything that might pull them back into the real world.

She knew his favourite band at the moment was Muse, a British group, though he changed bands as often as he changed his tee shirts. He could play the guitar, the piano and the mandolin, he was passing fair on the drums but didn't like to play them as the kit hid his 'hot bod' from the ladies. She smiled at the memory of that conversation. His favourite meal was French fries and cheese, he hated pickles and onions. His favourite film was Dogma though he hated to go to Church and he had become a CSI fan when he had seen the Tarantino episodes at the end of season 5. Her smile broadened as she remembered dubbing him a 'CSI virgin' having watched the first ever episode however many years ago herself and religiously watching and or recording it ever since.

She wrung her hands together and paced back and forth some more. What was wrong with her. sure she didn't know everything about his life, the same way as he didn't know everything about her…no, that probably wasn't true either. He always knew her a lot more than she liked. She would bet that when she went back he was going to have that look on his face. That look that meant he knew something was up but didn't want to push her about it.

She could always see so much in those blue eyes of his. People thought that he rarely ever showed emotion, but that wasn't true, it was all there. All in his eyes, you just had to get close enough to see it…oh God.

Lisa's legs crumpled under her and she sat heavily on the rock, her feet dangling over the edge in empty air.

'Oh God.' She murmured her hand going to her throat. 'Oh shit, oh fuck, oh wank!' Lisa dropped her head into her hands. 'You idiot, Lisa. How could you be so stupid?' she drew her knees up to her chest and had the sudden urge to cry, though she wasn't quite sure why. She rested her chin on her knees and stared at the bright blue of the horizon. A few moments ago the sun had been out and the distinction between sky and sea had been so clear, now though, the sun had clouded over and the ocean and the sky had blended together, a messy blur where the horizon should be.

A single tear slipped down her cheek and she dashed it away with an angry movement. She didn't even have a reason to cry. She sighed and another tear fell as she watched the ocean swirl.

'Imagine falling for Gregory House.' She scolded herself. 'You're just going to get hurt, you fool.'

She glanced at her watch. Lunch wasn't until twelve, she had an hour to pull herself together; go back to the cottage and enjoy the last few hours of her vacation with the man she loved. Then she had to get on a plane, go back to her real life, let him go and then never be close to him ever again.

Lisa sniffed and dried her eyes. No problem; she could do this.

She hoped.

'Where are we going?' Lisa whispered to Greg as they were led through the castle. He smiled down at her.

'It's a surprise.' He told her a little smugly. His eyes travelled over the dress she was wearing. A red corset style bodice over a layered gold silk skirt that swirled around her legs and down to her ankles, how she had managed to fit all these outfits in her one tiny suitcase was quite beyond him, probably the same way she managed to fit all those power suits in that one closet she had at home.

'Here we are.' Nara turned to them and swept the heavy wine coloured curtain out of the way. 'Your meal will be up momentarily.' She said quietly and then simply disappeared into the shadows of the gloomy hallway.

'I'd pay real money to know how they do that.' Greg said as he squinted after her.

'You're ruining the moment. Let me gape for a minute.' Lisa said and looked around the balcony, an expression of awe painted on her face. 'This is beautiful.' She whispered, reaching out to run her finger along the edge of a rose bud. They were deep red and gathered together in a crystal vase in the centre of the table set for two out on the balcony over looking the setting sun as it dipped below the horizon far out over the Atlantic ocean. The linen was crisp and white, the cutlery a gleaming ornately carved silver that matched the candle sticks with cream candles burning brightly, fire lit torches ensconced in wrought iron brackets in the wall added additional illumination, high backed chairs carved from maple wood were ready at the table and he pulled one out for her to sit. She sent a happy smile his way and he returned it as he poured the wine for her and then took his seat.

She sipped the red merlot that had a rich and fruity flavour and slid decadently down her throat to warm her from the inside out.

'You like?' Greg gestured around them.

'It's perfect.' She blinked when she realised exactly how breathy her tone was and then cleared her throat straightening up. 'Wow, really making Wilson pay aren't we?' she set her wineglass down and fingered the stem before looking up at him. He had stilled at her comment. He grinned suddenly and lifted his own wine. 'Yeah, I guess so.' He drank a little and then shrugged his dark blazer off and hooked it over the back of his chair. He rolled the white sleeves of his dress shirt up over tanned forearms and Lisa realised she was in serious trouble when she couldn't stop watching the way his fingers slid over things, the way he touched a glass or fidgeted with a rose or absently tapped a silver knife.

She remembered his touching her like that. His palms sliding over damp skin after a bath they'd shared together, the way he touched the small of her back when he wanted her attention, the way he fidgeted with her hair as her head rested on his chest and the way he tapped his fingers against her hip as he slept, playing her like a musical instrument whose music only he could hear.

She shuttered her eyes briefly and heaved in a fortifying breath as she realised that this was always how it was going to be between them now. No matter what their intentions had been for no strings, hot, fun sex together for two weeks, now, no matter what she did, she was always going to connect it back to him. She was always going to have him colouring her every action.

Trouble wasn't even the word.

'Lisa, are you alright? If this is making you uncomfortable then we can go.' He told her.

'No, no, it's fine, it was very…nice of you to take me out.'

'Nice?' He looked as though he wasn't quite sure how to take that.

'Relax, honey, it's a compliment.' She told him on a smile and sipped her wine with a hand that only shook slightly. She hadn't even realised her endearment to him.

But he heard it.

He fingered the knife beside his plate as he watched her. She was nervous about something. He wondered if he should ask her about it. Was that stepping out of the parameters of their relationship?

What relationship?

He was her fuck-toy, not her boyfriend, not her lover, not her fiancé, not even really her friend. Just someone that she was working out some tension on. He supposed he shouldn't be ungrateful, he had gotten into this with every intention of doing exactly that. Two weeks no strings, hot, sweaty, messy sex but somewhere along the line…his mind shied away from that thought and he seized on the easy distraction of the wait staff bringing out their starter.

Oatcakes with duck orange pate, deep fried brie with cranberry sauce and strips of smoked salmon and seafood sauce with slices of cucumber were laid out in obsidian platters before them. Her face lit up at the sight of her favourite starters that she had grown to like since coming here, he had remembered every one and ordered a little of each for her tonight.

He watched her as she made a little tower of things on a piece of oatcake and then smothered his surprise as she held it across the table for him to eat.

'You sure you want to part with it?' He asked her with a smile, back to his teasing self.

She smirked back at him, no, that was a smile. 'It's the only bit you're getting so you'd better enjoy it.' She warned in a mocking tone and he leant towards her fingers and took her confection of food. His lips brushed her fingers and her breath caught at the contact.

He smiled at her as he sat back in his chair. 'I'll have to take what I can get, then?'

Her smile slipped a fraction as she chewed a mouthful of melted brie. 'Sometimes it's the only thing you can do.'

Greg had a sudden feeling that they weren't talking about food anymore.

The front door to the cottage swung inward and Lisa stepped inside, slipping out from under Greg's arm and entering the hallway first. He watched her back retreat from him into the corridor and stop at the living room doorway. He saw the tense position of the muscles in her shoulders as she stood tapping her fingers against the wooden doorframe. He shut the door quietly behind himself and clicked the lock over. He limped over to her and stood within inches of her, she could feel the warmth of his body at her back.

'You enjoy tonight?' His voice was almost shocking in the quiet of the empty cottage. Suddenly it felt that way. It felt so empty and so devoid of life that it almost hurt.

She nodded a little too jerkily and smiled a little too broadly. 'It was lovely, thank you for taking me out.'

'Not a problem.' He leant against the wall as he watched her knuckles tighten on both sides of the doorway, as if she were preparing to throw herself headlong into the room.

'What shall we do now?' She asked quietly, turning her head to look over her shoulder at him. Her eyes seemed over bright and she finally let go of the doorframe to turn and face him. She propped herself against one side of the door and watched him as a rabbit might watch a fox.

He smiled at the comparison and moved for her at exactly the same moment she moved for him.

The crashed together like two waves in a storm. His mouth taking hers as he cupped the back of her head, burying his fingers in the dark silk of her hair. His tongue surging against hers as his other hand dropped his cane with a clatter and wrapped around her waist, pulling her against his chest. Her arms slid up and around his neck as she tilted her head to his and took everything he could give her.

Heat soared between them, explosive and scalding, they stumbled down the hallway together, never quite willing to break contact as they laughingly clashed with furniture and walls, staggering drunkenly in the dark. To wrapped up in one another to even turn on a light switch.

They careened into the bedroom as his hand bunched in the material of her skirt, gathering it up to reveal the long silken length of her legs to him. His hot hand slid over her thigh and she whimpered as his long fingers toyed with the edge of her lace panties. He loved that keening sound of pleasure she gave whenever he had his hands on her and he tried to forget that tonight would be the last night he would hear it. He wanted to only think of her, only have her scent in his head, only the feel of her soft skin in his hands, only the sight of her eyes hooded with pleasure in his mind.

No matter how differently he might wish it was, it had to be this way.

Lisa fell back onto the mattress with Greg on top of her. His mouth was hard on hers as his fingers worked the laces at the side of her bodice free. The garment gaped and he growled in triumph as he jerked it from her slim frame. His hands sliding over her skin and down to the material of her skirt bunched around her hips. The zip at the back of the skirt rasped in protest as it was rudely jerked down and the skirt pulled down the length of her legs and off.

His jacket was shoved from his shoulders as they kissed each other with an almost desperate intensity, the shirt buttons popped under her grip as she wrenched his shirt open and pushed it off him. His mouth went to her throat and his rough jaw scraped the soft skin there. She shivered at the intensity of sensations that ricocheted about her body from any point of contact between them. Like live wires sparking together.

They both knew this was their last night together, their last time to have one another, their last time to show each other what they couldn't say.

Lisa pushed all thoughts of tomorrow from her mind as his naked body slid against hers. His skin was warm and his hands sensual as he learned the shape of her by feel, as if he were a blind man trying to see her by touch. Her legs slid around him, tightening her hold on him like she would never let go and they cried out together as he surged inside her. His forehead rested against hers as he groaned at the hot wet feel of her clasped around him. She shivered in his arms like she was freezing hot and her hand cupped the side of his face as she pulled his head down to hers, pressing her lips to his.

His hand pressed to hers and laced his long fingers through her own. Palm to palm he moved over her and inside her, his hand holding tightly to hers and she gripped him back just as strongly, neither wanting to be the first to let go.

Lisa was suddenly glad that the lights weren't on as tears silent tears slid down her cheeks. She hoped he wouldn't see. Hoped he wouldn't see the tears, hoped he wouldn't see the pain and most of all, she hoped he'd never see just how much she loved him.

It may hurt now, but it was the way it had to be.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Mwaha! Here I am, this is me, there's no where else on earth I'd rather be! **

**Ooookaay, channelling Brian Adams now, am I? **

**I just can't seem to help myself. **

**I'm going through changes…**

**And enough with the lyrics. I think I've covered just about everything in this chapter. A bit of smut, a bit of humour and a healthy dash of angst, just tae keep ye cumin back for more (which, incidentally, is what House is going to be doing, just you wait 'n' see!). **

**Review me, I NEEEEED the gratification. **

**HIT THAT PUUURPLE BUUUUUTTTTOOOOOOOOOOON-UH!!!!!**

**Just re-read Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. Now she was doing so well until book four and then she just cocked up rather spectacularly.**

**I mean in book 5 Harry's all like 'I'M SO BITTER AND ENRAGED!!!!' and then in book six he's all like 'Yeah, I quite fancy Ginny actually.' **

**WTF? **

**Can you not just see Dumbledore and Sirius sitting playing cards and eating sherbert lemons in the after life; **

**Sirius: 'Oh, hey Dumbledore. What are you doing here?' **

**Dumbledore: 'Oh, you know, Sirius, another hastily put together death. I think mine was slightly more formulaic than yours. Definitely out of character as well, I'm about nine hundred years old and I suddenly start showing my age _NOW_? What was that Rowling woman thinking? I'm the fucking constant of the books, she just lost half her fans.' **

**Sirius: (_joined by huge three headed dog)_ Join the club, mate, we're all in this plot hole together. **

**All: Sigh. **

**ANNNEEEEWAY! Enough of my ranting, I'm away off to write a strongly worded email to a certain rags-to-riches author who I am determined to out-sell one of these days…toodle-pip. **

**Chapter 9: Flying High, Sinking Low**

'That's what you're wearing?'

Lisa looked down at herself. The simple red and white striped low cut top that left a few inches of her tanned stomach bare and then her low riding denim skirt that ruffled around her knees. Her cork soled mules were wrapped around her legs and feet with spaghetti thin red straps. She looked back up at him and shoved her large designer sunglasses up into her curls. 'What's wrong with it?' He was choosing now to start criticising what she was wearing?

Greg was floored. 'Uh…nothing.'

Lisa arched a brow as he tried to pull himself together. She looked fantastic, good enough to take back to bed.

In fact…no! Must control urges and finish packing, he scolded himself but his eyes were glued to the inches of bare skin revealed between the hems of her shirt and skirt.

'You're picking now to be embarrassed about being seen with me?' She sounded more incredulous than annoyed and he shook his head rapidly.

'No, I just didn't know you owned an outfit like that.' He threw a pair of jeans into his holdall and crumpled them in with a rather violent movement as he tried to think cool thoughts. Something made nearly impossible by her next movement. She bent down opposite him and tisked quietly to herself as she fussed with her own suitcase. Her glasses slipped down and rested over her nose but it wasn't them he was looking at.

The red and white patterned top stretched over her breasts as they pushed forward against the material. Greg stifled a groan.

'You know, it wasn't bulging like this last night.'

'What?' Greg snapped his eyes to hers and she looked up at him.

'The case, how come you've never got enough room for stuff on the way back?'

Greg stifled a strangled sound. He had been under the impression that she had been talking about a different kind of bulge…anyway! Moving on. 'If you're stuck you can put some of your stuff in mine.' He offered without thinking about it.

'Uh, thanks.' She said a little warily and he scrutinised her more carefully, but he was hindered by her glasses. She stepped neatly over her own case and pushed some neatly folded sweats and a shirt or two in with his crumpled clothes. Her vanilla strawberry scent washed over him and he took a step away from her before he did something very stupid but probably very enjoyable. 'When are we being picked up?'

'Ten thirty.' She answered automatically and checked her slim silver watch. 'Yikes, that's only five minutes away.' She was crouched next to his bag and held the zipper ready to be shut. 'You finished packing?'

Greg had a brief flash of the last time she had been kneeling in front of him and nodded in a slightly dazed fashion. She definitely hadn't been holding a sports bag zipper that time. He tugged at the collar of his tee shirt. It was suddenly very warm in here. What was wrong with him? Due to the past fortnight's activities he probably shouldn't be able to walk at all, never mind be entertaining fantasies about tossing a certain dark haired beauty over his shoulder, dragging her back to his bed and keeping her there for as long as was possible. He cleared his throat once more and managed not to drop the bag when she handed it to him.

That must be what it was, he scrabbled frantically for an explanation. He was just used to having been extremely satisfied by this point in the day. Their usual routine had been to wake up, have breakfast and then help themselves to generous portions of each other. Greg's mind skilfully managed to skirt around the fact that they had done exactly that this morning as well.

Speaking of skirts, how could something that was knee length look so indecent?

It must have been the way it rode low on the curve of her hips, or perhaps the way the slits in the ruffles of denim at her knees revealed teasing flashes of her legs when she walked…or maybe it was just the way he kept fantasising about pinning her to the floor and ripping the damn thing off with his teeth…but he'd been wrong before.

Greg sighed as he approached her waiting for him at the door. Nine hours of flying in a glorified Tylenol with this delicious little package of sweet smelling gorgeousness next to him…he was as good as dead.

'You ready?' She asked him cheerfully as she swung a thigh length denim jacket over her shoulders and cinched the belt tight at her waist.

Oh, she had no idea.

Lisa looked sideways at Greg as he sat resolutely staring out the window. They had just taken off from Inverness airport and the cabin crew were busy going through their safety routine in rather cute dark blue and tartan uniforms. He held the 'what to do if you survive the crash' leaflet in his hand but he was just tapping it against his knee and staring out the window.

'Nervous flier?' She asked him disbelievingly. He had probably memorised the statistical likelihood of the plane crashing before getting on and realised that it was still the safest way to travel.

'Huh?' He said eruditely as he turned to her. The laminated leaflet in his hand stilled against his knee.

'I asked if you were nervous about flying.' She repeated for him.

'What? No, safest way to travel.' He informed her and she smiled at him, she felt something cracking in the vicinity of where her heart was hammering but she ignored it as she attempted to draw him into conversation.

'You just seemed to be clutching that leaflet really tight.' She pointed and he looked down as if surprised to see the card in his hand. He leant over and stuffed it into the pocket of the seat in front of him. He swallowed hard and told himself it was because of the changing air pressure in the cabin.

'Will you be glad to get to work?' He asked her suddenly and she blinked at the change of gear.

'I don't think glad is the right word.' She thought about it a moment. 'Comfortable, maybe, slipping back into the old routines. Besides, I'm not due back until Monday.'

'A whole weekend to go nuts over the imaginary dust in your house.' He grinned at her and her own smile held a trace of self-deprecating humour.

'Everyone's got to have a hobby.' She told him and ordered a vodka and orange when the stewardess rolled by with her trolley. Greg ordered a beer and swigged straight from the bottle.

The plane levelled off and the seatbelt sign pinged off. Lisa reached down to loosen hers but didn't take it off as she continued to sip her drink through the little black straw. She was beginning to think she should have ordered a double. Maybe if she drank enough she might not be able to notice how good he smelled or how the heat of his body sent her heart racing every time he shifted in his seat. She was beginning to recognise that the gratification she had gained at his hands during the last two weeks might not exactly weigh up against what it was going to cost her but, oddly enough, she couldn't find it within herself to feel regret.

God, she wanted him.

She swallowed hard and looked away from him, draining her drink as she did so. Her eyes wandered around the cabin and she realised that they were near the back of the business class compartment and that the toilets were just behind them. Her nerves zinged as a completely unacceptable idea occurred to her.

No…she couldn't…could she?

Lisa made a split second decision and slapped her drink down on the little shelf that was built into the arms of the chair she was in. she snatched a sick bag from the pocket in front of her, unclipped her seatbelt before bolting up and out of her seat, hurrying to the bathroom looking extremely ill.

The stewardess jumped out of her way and she disappeared inside the tiny room. She smirked to herself. Ball was in his court now, she caught her flushed giddy expression in the mirror and resisted the strong urge to giggle. Since when did she giggle?

If he turned up at the door, then she'd invite him inside, if he didn't she'd go back to her seat in a few minutes and say the drink didn't agree with her.

Perfect.

House smiled pleasantly at the stewardess as he passed her on the way to the toilet. He hadn't figured Cuddy for the type to suffer air-sickness. He wondered if there was something else wrong with her.

He knocked on the thin folding door of the bathroom. 'Lisa?' He called softly.

The door whipped open, catching Greg by surprise and a slim feminine hand reached out, bunched in his shirt and yanked him into the tiny bathroom.

Lisa thrust her fingers through his hair and yanked his head down to hers for a scalding

kiss that had him backing her up against the miniscule sink and grinding against her. She moaned in appreciation before releasing him on a gasping pant.

'You a member of the Mile High Club?'

'What?'

'No?' Her hands slithered over his belt and had it unbuckled and his jeans unsnapped before he could fully comprehend her words. 'Oh goody, I get to induct you.' Her smile was wicked as she hopped onto the countertop and pulled him between her thighs.

House's cane clattered to the floor as he bent his head to hers again. _Oh well_, he mused, _I'm always up for trying new things._

He was vaguely aware of her fumbling for the lock and it clicking shut over his shoulder as he kissed her hard and plunged his tongue into her mouth. His hands slid up her skirt and he slipped the silky nothingness of her underwear down her legs and then stuffed the damp scrap into his pocket. Her hands were down his jeans and wrapped around him he groaned in pleasure even as he pushed two fingers hard inside her and circled his thumb around her clit. She whimpered against his shoulder and shoved his jeans and boxers down to free him. She continued to stroke him, as he tugged her top down and kissed her spiked nipples, just because she loved the hard velvet feel of him.

She hooked her legs around his hips and tugged him closer, though he needed no urging. His fingers slid from her and she bit her lip as the hard head of him butted against her slippery folds. Her fingers slid under his jacket and tightened on his tee shirt clad shoulder as he pushed inside her. He gripped her hips and angled her body in a way that had her gasping as he seemed to scrape deliciously against every sensitive inner muscle her body possessed. Her other hand tunnelled through his hair and she rested her forehead against his as she moaned, her eyes shut to savour the sensation of him being inside her, her teeth savaging her lower lip as she fought the urge to scream.

When he was fully sheathed inside her, he paused, either to gather himself for what was coming or to give her a chance to adjust to the sheer size of him.

He was gentlemanly that way.

Lisa wrapped her arms around his neck as he stole a kiss from her and urged him to move. He needed no further encouragement as he pulled out of her, until he was just barely inside her, and then surged forcefully back into her. Lisa buried her face in his neck and attempted to muffle her sounds of ecstasy as he found his rhythm, slow and almost bruising hard.

His grip tightened on her hips as he seemed to almost pause when he was deepest inside her, pull out to his limit and then lunge back inside. Lisa found herself anticipating each thrust as they drove her higher and higher towards climax. The slow pace was driving her insane, she wanted to scream at him to fuck her harder and faster but she also wanted to see where this was going because, she knew, when it arrived, it was going to be mind-numbing. She could feel the waves building inside her, overlapping and intensifying, each thrust adding to the last as he built a burning tower of pleasure inside her.

She opened her eyes to see him watching her as he moved against her. He knew! The bastard knew he was tormenting her! She could feel the sensations twist inside her with a scalding intensity – she couldn't contain it, it was too hot, too wild for her to hold onto. She could hear moans and was vaguely surprised when she realised it was her that was making all the noise.

Greg watched her and ached with the urge to go faster, to take her as hard as she could go. To grind into her so hard and so fast that they smashed together and it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other began. He knew he was on a knife-edge and that it would take ridiculously little to have him plunging into her. He couldn't last much longer and watching her was just making it worse. He could see every nuance of pleasure cross her features, see the scream just held back behind her full gorgeous lips, see how her head tilted back when she thought she couldn't take anymore and then he'd twist his hips another way and have her gasping in shock and delight. There was only one way for this to end and it was imminent.

She was beyond rational thought. Her arms and legs were locked around him and he could hear the material of his tee shirt creaking in her fist as it protested under the strain she was putting it under.

Lisa gasped as the waves smashed into each other and built on themselves, pushing her higher and higher up into a fire burst of colour and light behind her eyelids as pleasure shuddered through her and the seemingly endless thrusts just kept building and adding to it.

Greg had never been so glad to feel the clench of her muscles around him as she came. He gave only two more thrust before surrendering with a stifled shout to his climax. He poured himself inside her as she contracted around him and took everything he had to give.

He wanted to collapse, but realised there was no room. He had forgotten that they were in a tiny bathroom thirty thousand feet straight up. He wondered briefly if anyone had heard them over the noise of the plane and figured, thankfully, since no irate stewardesses were hammering on the door, they had gone undetected. He pulled out of her as gently as he could and rearranged his jeans. He had no idea how long they had been in here, but he was willing to bet that someone was going to notice if they didn't emerge soon. 'You okay?' He asked her as she laid a shaking hand on his shoulder and lowered herself carefully to the floor.

Lisa couldn't hear the plane engines over the roaring in her ears and she looked up at him with stunned eyes. Her legs were rubbery she felt faint and looked for all the world like she was suffering from shock. His hand cupped her jaw and he steadied her as best he could.

'Hey, you alright?'

'Birds.' She said finally. He frowned.

'What?'

She raised a finger and twirled it through the air. 'Little tweety birds flying around my head.' She elaborated with some difficulty getting her tongue to work properly again.

'Oh, those birds.' Relief washed over him and he grinned a little smugly down at her. 'Better watch they don't crash into mine.' He warned her. He watched her as she finished straightening her clothes and hair and still managed to retain that flushed and fucked look with flair. She looked around for something and he patted his pocket.

'Don't worry, they're safe.' He told her and unlocked the door before slipping out and limping back to his seat. He assumed his concerned face but no one paid him any attention. He turned in time to see Lisa step from the bathroom and join him a few seconds later, still feigning airsickness.

She didn't have to fake the shaky legs or wobbly hands and only had a problem with keeping the tee-hee-my-man's-just-screwed-the-living-daylights-outta-me grin off her face.

'You alright?' He asked her as she stopped next to him.

'Uh-huh, but I would like a blanket down, if you don't mind.' She asked him politely and he noticed, with a certain amount of male pride, that she had to lean rather heavily against the chair as she stood there to prevent her legs from giving out from under her.

He snagged the blanket down for her, pushed up the arm between their chairs and then helped her unfold it over both of them. She wriggled as close to him as she could and rested her head against his chest in a position that was now familiar to them both as he wrapped an arm around her waist. Not as comfortable as being sprawled sideways across a king size bed, but good enough, he supposed.

She went slack against him, as she always did after she'd been pleasured, and slipped into a peaceful sleep. Greg dozed, not quite awake but not quite asleep either as the engine noise receded into the background. His mind drifted back over the last two weeks with her and sifted through the various memories. Not just of the sexual escapades they had gotten up to – fantastic though they were – but they way she was away from work. The way she sat with one foot under her and twirled her hair around her finger as she read one of the murder-mysteries that she loved; the way she looked at her first cup of coffee in the morning like there was a spark of happiness to be found in the corner of it; the way she put butter and jam on her toast and secretly enjoyed the mess she could make on the bread; the way she conducted the radio with a spoon as she cooked; her smile; humming Greensleeves in the shower; hearing the way she laughed when she really thought something was funny and the cute way she sometimes talked to herself when she didn't even realise it.

Greg turned his face towards her hair and inhaled the sweet scent of shampoo, moisturiser and her that would forever be engraved in his memory. Along with everything else they'd had together, stolen moments away from real life. Greg stored the thoughts away to keep them close to his heart, not that he would ever admit it. His arm tightened around her and he was aware of her happy sigh as her own arm slid over his belly and she held him back.

There was a small smile on his lips as he fell deeper into sleep and dreamed of Lisa.

Greg tossed their luggage into the back of the taxi and had the sneaking suspicion that Cuddy was going to make an appearance on the way back to her house. She had seemed more distant as they had left the plane and come through customs. He slammed the trunk closed and then limped into the back of the cab, sitting next to her on the opposite side of the massive leather bench seat. Suddenly there seemed to be a massive valley between them.

He hated it.

The drive to her address was quite and the sky was darkening as rain clouds roiled overhead. Huge fat droplets of rain had begun to splatter against the windows of the taxi as they pulled up outside her house. She got out of the cab and he followed her around to help her out with her bag. Lisa looked up as the rain began to fall in earnest and thought it rather fitting that the sky wanted to cry too.

She took her case from him and their hands brushed.

'Lisa, I…' He started but she cut him off.

'Please don't. Whatever you say will just sound like goodbye.' She spoke on a rush as the rain soaked through her clothes. She looked up at him and he suddenly felt like a heel because she looked so sad.

'Fuck it.' He muttered and hauled her against his chest. His mouth crashed down on hers and his tongue slid into her mouth like he had every right to be there, which he figured he did. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he kissed her as fiercely as he could manage it without harming them both. The rain poured down over both of them and he was suddenly reminded of the first time he had kissed her, angry and goaded into it with a storm jeering down at them on the other side of the world.

They finally parted, though she still had her fingers fisted in his tee shirt and he still grasped her waist. He panted against her mouth. 'I know nothing's changed. Tell Mrs Smith that I'll miss her.'

'Okay.' Her voice was barely above a whisper.

He forced himself to let go of her and then swung himself back into the cab, he twisted to watch her walk up the garden path as the cabbie drove away.

'That's a nice lady ye've got there, pal.' The cabbie told him and House scrubbed a hand over his eyes, suddenly so tired.

'Yeah.' He looked out at the rain racing down the windows. 'Yeah, she is.'

The cab ride to his apartment passed in a blur of apathy for him and he handed over a handful of bills to the driver and got out without change. He grabbed his bag and then walked into the apartment, his keys jangled with an echo in the empty rooms as he tossed them on the table. He dropped his bag and limped through to the kitchen to check that Wilson had indeed been feeding Steve.

He pulled off his coat and dumped it over the nearest chair. He sat by his baby grand and plonked out a few notes, thinking he would be glad to get back to his favoured instrument, and then slammed the lid shut in sudden annoyance when it did not have the soothing effect he had wanted. He flopped onto the couch, popped a vicodin and stared numbly at the television as he flicked through the channels. He scowled and flipped it off as he tossed the remote aside. He thought his leg might hurt but it didn't, at least, not as much as it could have.

He twirled his cane.

He stood suddenly, wanting suddenly to torment someone. He scratched a hand through his hair, strictly speaking he wasn't due back at the hospital until Monday, but someone was bound to be there that he could take his ire out on.

A small smile kicked his mouth, of course, why didn't he think of this before?

He shrugged his jacket on again, snatched up his keys and bounded out onto the sidewalk toting his helmet. His bike roared as he gunned the engine and then squealed out onto the street.

Silly him, Wilson was at the hospital.

Payback time.

**It's that time again! Oh yes! Iiiiiit's….PREVIEW TIME!!!!**

**Admit it, you love it. **

_Cuddy jumped as a hand snagged her hip and jerked her around. She slammed into a hard chest and her head was pulled back just short of roughly as a velvet familiar mouth crashed over hers in a homecoming of sensation. She made a muffled sound as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her more tightly against him. He shoved her roughly backwards against the trunk of her car, the door up and shadowing them between the vehicle and the door of her garage. _

_She didn't know why he was here, she didn't know why he was so intense, so desperate to taste her, to feel her and take her and, to be quite honest, she couldn't give a rat's ass. Her fingers tunnelled through his hair and she pulled him against her as violently as he was holding her. _

_He bent over her, forcing her to arch back, he pushed her into the trunk of her car chest to chest with her. Her legs wrapped around his hips and the lip of the trunk's door bit into her lower back, but she didn't care. _

_Birdsong issued sharply over head and she abruptly remembered where they were. _

'_House, we're – oh god – outside!' She gasped as his hands slid under her top and he rolled a hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger. _

'_You have a point?' He growled. _

'_I have –ah! There! – neighbours, and it's kind of illegal.' _

'_Let them see _somebody's_ going to know you're mine.' He snapped as he shoved her skirt up a few inches further and the rasp of his zipper seemed to rattle through the balmy afternoon like the hiss of an angry snake. _

_He ground against her. _

_Lisa's head fell back. _

'_Oh God.' _

**Hooooooo-boy!! Betcha can't wait. Read and review for me and it'll come quicker….no pun intended. **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Okay, here I am with a spiffy update! **

**Ta-dah! **

**Uuumm…Wilson survives another day, but the revenge cometh! **

**This is mainly smut but, in case y'all hadn't guessed, their relationship is pretty much based on fighting and fucking, so if you don't like that, don't let the review button hit yer arse on the way out. **

**Anyways, read and review, coz you know you want to. **

**Chapter 10: Need**

House's bike snarled to a stop in the hospital parking lot and he cut the engine with a jerk of his wrist. He removed his helmet and looked up at the hospital. The rain had stopped and now the bright Jersey sun was splitting the sky. The sidewalks were rapidly drying and instead of clearing the air, the rain seemed to have only increased the humidity level turning the afternoon uncomfortably hot and the air thick. He thought about getting off his bike and going inside to annoy Wilson but…

He didn't really want to be here, he wanted to be…wanted to be with her.

He rolled the helmet between his palms and worked his jaw as he thought about it. She couldn't have really wanted it to end. He had seen the way she had looked, had felt the urgency behind that last kiss. He looked at his watch, the first thing she was going to do was go to the store and pick up some food. If he moved now he would get to her house before she got back. A scheming smirk tilted his lips as he jammed the helmet back on and throttled the bike's engine into a roar. The tires squealed and burned as he spun the bike and screamed back out into the traffic like a man on a mission.

Cuddy stood staring at her fridge, her hand still on the carton of milk that she had just put on the shelf. She shook her head and scowled at herself as she realised her behaviour. Rummaging in the next paper sack she shoved the rest of her groceries in the fridge and stilled when she thought she heard the purr of a motorcycle engine outside. Her heart leaped and then she scolded herself for being an idiot, he was gone and the next time she saw him he'd be his usual caustic self and she'd be the dean again.

Why did that suddenly sound so shitty?

She spun on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen and through the dim hallway out the open front door and down to her car that she had reversed up against the garage with the trunk open so she could take out all her shopping more easily. She stopped at the rear bumper and jangled the keys in her hand as she thought she…no, she was imagining it.

She bent to take out the rest of her bags and abruptly straightened as a shadow fell over her.

Cuddy jumped as a hand snagged her hip and jerked her around. She slammed into a hard chest and her head was pulled back just short of roughly as a velvet familiar mouth crashed over hers in a homecoming of sensation. She made a muffled sound as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her more tightly against him. He shoved her roughly backwards against the trunk of her car, the door up and shadowing them between the vehicle and the door of her garage.

She didn't know why he was here, she didn't know why he was so intense, so desperate to taste her, to feel her and take her and, to be quite honest, she couldn't give a rat's ass. Her fingers tunnelled through his hair and she pulled him against her as violently as he was holding her.

He bent over her, forcing her to arch back, he pushed her into the trunk of her car chest to chest with her. Her legs wrapped around his hips and the lip of the trunk's door bit into her lower back, but she didn't care.

Birdsong issued sharply over head and she abruptly remembered where they were.

'House, we're – oh god – outside!' She gasped as his hands slid under her top and he rolled a hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

'You have a point?' He growled.

'I have –ah! There! – neighbours, and it's kind of illegal.'

'Let them see _somebody's_ going to know you're mine.' He snapped as he shoved her skirt up a few inches further and the rasp of his zipper seemed to rattle through the balmy afternoon like the hiss of an angry snake.

He ground against her.

Lisa's head fell back.

'_Oh God_.'

'Miss Cuddy? Are you alright?'

Cuddy's feet hit the ground as House lifted his head, he let her straighten and she shoved her skirt down and straightened her top and cleared her throat as she rounded the back of the car to see who had called her.

'Oh, Eric. Yes, I'm fine.'

Eric, her neighbour's son, stood next to the largest dog Cuddy had ever seen and eyed Greg carefully. The dog growled.

'This guy, bothering you?'

Cuddy was reining in her hormones with extreme difficulty and she shook her head hard, while making sure that she stood obstructing Greg with her body. 'No, he's a friend.'

Eric didn't look convinced and the dog, she believed he was affectionately known as Mauler, snarled again. 'Okay, then. See ya.' Eric muttered and gave the leash a small tug. Mauler gave one last dirty look to House and then padded after his adolescent master.

As soon as he was gone Cuddy rounded on House. 'What are you doing here?'

'I would have thought that it was fairly obvious.' House shrugged and tugged the last bag of groceries out of the trunk before reaching up and slamming it shut.

'But, I…' Cuddy was left talking to his back as he turned and limped into her house. She followed him with a scowl to cover her delighted grin and caught up with him in the hallway. 'We agreed, when the vacation was over…'

'Yeah, I know, but it occurs to me that the vacation isn't really over until we get back to work and that is one looong weekend away.' He moved through to the kitchen and dumped the bag on the worktop before rounding on her.

Her breath caught as she saw the intense light in his eyes. She backed away from him and he followed her until her back hit the counter behind her and he rested both his hands on either side of her. 'Of course, if you don't want me here. If you can honestly tell me that if little Eric hadn't interrupted we wouldn't be out against your car decidedly _not_ having this conversation, if you can tell me that you're not hot for me right now, if you can tell me that _this_ is nothing,' he ground the hard length of himself against her hip and she bit her lip to keep from groaning. 'If you can tell me all that, then I'll go and never mention this again.'

He tilted his head to her. 'Can you tell me that?'

'Just until Monday?' She looked up at him uncertainly, her hand lifted but hovering an inch away from his chest.

'Until Monday.' He agreed, mind you, he would have agreed to just about anything to have her hand touch him. He nearly purred when her palm pressed against his heartbeat. Slid up over his shoulder, cupped the back of his neck and pulled his mouth down towards hers. She stopped, his lips a breath from hers.

'Why?' She asked suddenly.

'Need.' He answered simply and a small smile curled her lips before she let him kiss her. the fire that had been roaring between them a few moments ago and had been pushed back to a simmer at the interruption of one boy and his dog, flared to life and spiralled up between them as it always so readily did.

He groaned as her fingers worked his jacket off his shoulders and it thumped to the floor with a clunk from his wallet, his hands went to her skirt and shoved it down and off her hips to slip to the floor. They stole kisses from each other as they frantically removed each other's clothes. His tee shirt was tugged over his head as they staggered from the kitchen, her top flopped down on top of it, his jeans were unzipped and shoved down somewhere in the hallway and he abruptly decided that bed was too far away.

Somehow they tumbled to the floor. She chuckled throatily as she tugged his jeans right off him along with his boxers as he kicked off his sneakers. Something tore in her bra as he yanked it off her and threw it away. He wanted nothing on her but him. The floor was cool and hard at her back but she didn't care as his mouth came down hard on hers, his tongue thrusting between her lips and duelling with her own. She moaned and gripped his shoulders. His hips nudged her legs apart and he gripped her thighs before he lunged inside her. She tore her mouth from his and threw her head back, crying out at the sensation of him hard inside her.

'Ohgoddon'tstop!' She gasped against his shoulder.

He would have laughed at the ridiculous idea of stopping if he hadn't been putting everything he had into screwing them both blind. He was caught by surprise as a sudden glint entered her eye and she shoved at his shoulder, he rolled onto his back with a grunt as his shoulder hit the wall. He hissed in a breath as she sat up on him, her palms splayed against his chest before she arched up off him and then slammed back down with a twist of her hips.

'Evil woman.' He grinned up at her as he held her hips and bucked up against her. Her nails scraped his chest as he jammed up inside her. She smirked down at him and gripped his shoulders, pulling up into a sitting position beneath her.

'You remember this the next time you call me the devil, hmm?' She grinned wickedly at him and then kissed the stunned expression right off his face.

'If I have enough brain cells left.' He said between nipping kisses of her lips. His hands slid from her hips and up her back to smooth over her silky soft skin. He slid his fingers around and over her ribs before cupping her breast in his hands and flicking his thumbs over her nipples in a way that he knew she loved. She threw back her head on a long throaty groan and clamped her inner muscles around him in a way that was shockingly delightful.

'Fuck!' He swore viciously at the feeling and his shoulders slammed against the wall with a thud as he jerked from it. Fine, two could play at this. He twisted his hips and she yelped in surprise as the world tilted and then made a wordless sound of pleasure as his cock jammed herd inside her as he rolled her beneath him again. He gripped her wrists between one of his hands and pinned them above her head. He thrust his other arm under her lower back and forced her to arch against him so that when he moved he ground against her clit and hit some deep hidden spot inside her that had colours exploding behind her eyelids.

Anything playful from a few moments before evaporated as he lunged into a powerful rhythm. He buried his face in her hair at her neck and his lips brushed her ear as he rasped to her.

'Come for me, Lisa. Come apart for me.'

Never let it be said that she didn't do as she was told.

She arched her back further and screamed as her climax ravaged her. Her legs tightened over his hips and pulled him tight inside her as she contracted around him like a velvet fist of molten heat. He shouted against her skin as he exploded with her. His entire body shook over hers and he collapsed down against her. He released her hands and she brought them down gently on his shoulders, she stroked his back as she panted under him and just seemed to enjoy the sensation of his naked skin against hers.

Something he could identify with.

He finally managed to brace himself on arms that shook only a little bit and looked down at her. 'You good?'

She smiled up at him, her eyes heavy with passion and stretched under him. 'I'm fantastic.'

'Yeah.' He grinned back at her and swept a curl from her face. 'I think I'd have to agree with that.'

'Hmm, flattery will get you everywhere, House.'

'Oh, so I'm House again, am I?'

'Only when you're being an ass.' She patted his shoulder in a reassuring motion and shifted under him, attempting to peel herself off the floor as painlessly as possible.

'Oh, well, I suppose I can live with that. Now, shall we risk a serious case of rug burn and just go to the lounge or do you wanna grab some stuff and come back to my place?'

'We can't stay here because…?'

'I need to feed Steve.' He shrugged. 'Speaking of feeding…'

'We can order out, you're not stealing all my food.' She told him and shoved him off of her. He rolled to the side easily enough and enjoyed the view as she sat up and shook her hair back over her shoulders. She rose to her feet and looked at the mess they'd made of her hallway. Clothes were scattered everywhere, pictures were askew, she really had to remove his shirt from over that light bulb and that spindly hallway table was never going to be the same again.

He watched her go, the woman did look insanely good walking around in her birthday suit, and hauled himself to hid feet with a little difficulty. Using the wall instead of his cane he limped along the hallway after her and into the miniscule kitchen, snatching his jeans as he went and working his way into them, she had tugged on her skirt and that top by the time he reached her. He took his cane as she handed it to him and watched her clean up the kitchen as she went, his shirt flopped over his head and he realised that he had been staring at her. He pulled it on with a mental shrug, no harm in staring, she was worth staring at.

'I think I like the no bra look.' He told her as she stretched up to pull a glass down from a cupboard. She scowled at him, though not with any real venom and filled the glass with water, she handed it to him and he nearly dropped it as her hand thrust into his jeans pocket to retrieve his vicodin. She shook out a pill and handed it to him before torturously working the bottle back into his pocket.

'You keep that up and Steve will starve to death, you want that on your conscious.'

She smirked. 'Lech.'

'Tease.' He told her and she shrugged, the movement causing marvellous things to happen to her unfettered breasts. He nearly choked on his vicodin and had to gulp down water.

'Don't give me that look, it's your fault for snapping it.'

'Maybe if you didn't wear such flimsy excuses for clothes then it wouldn't happen.'

'You'd complain if I didn't.' She told him as she stalked down the corridor and reached the stairs. He limped after her.

'I most certainly would not complain if you decided to go without clothes. It would make my life easier and save me a lot of time, what's to complain about?'

She rolled her eyes and jogged up the stairs. He hid a chuckle as she folded her arms across her chest. He wandered about her living room and tugged on his jacket as she tossed things in a bag, he could hear her moving about upstairs and he scrutinised pictures of nieces and nephews as the sounds of the latest Muse single hummed down the stairs towards him.

'So, how did you get here again?' She asked him as she tightened her jacket belt around her waist. His eyebrows rose as he saw she had changed from skirt to a sinfully tight pair of jeans though she still wore her red mules.

'Brought the bike…you gonna ride it with me?' He asked slightly disbelieving.

'Wouldn't be wearing pants if I wasn't.' She told him and swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out the door. He hurried after her, smothering his surprise and let her lock the door behind him. He limped to the bike and swung his leg over the shining machine as he clipped his cane on to its fastenings. She eyed it a trifle warily as she tied her hair back. He held out the helmet to her and patted the seat behind him with a smirk. He zipped up his leather jacket as she mounted the bike behind him. There was no hesitancy in the way her thighs gripped his hips and her arms wrapped around his waist, her hands clasped over his belt buckle.

He gunned the engine and the bike thrummed under them as he purred out onto the street and then rumbled down the road towards his apartment.

He chuckled as he noticed a few high end curtains twitching as the good doctor roared off down the street with her bad biker boyfriend.

It was some time later, and on another floor, when they finally got around to eating.

'No, that's mine!' Lisa lunged and tried to snatch the spring roll from him.

'Hah! I think not.' He toppled backwards and she sprawled across his chest as he held the pastry away from her. 'Finders keepers.'

'Ah, but you didn't find it.' She reasoned and reached for it again but he had much longer arms than she did. She huffed a sigh. 'Half it with me?'

'Greedy wench.' He laughed at her and rested a hand on her back to hold her still. They were sprawled on his floor, completely naked, on the throw that used to reside on his couch and tangled together with cartons of Chinese take out scattered around them. He had forgotten how much fun this was, just lolling about naked with his lover.

'Just for spring rolls.' She smirked at him. 'Gimme!'

'Ask nicely.' He demanded.

'Please?' There was a rather suggestive grin on her lips.

'Hmm, nicer?' He waggled the roll and she scowled.

'It'll be cold by now.' She rested her elbow on his chest, propped her head on her hand and drummed her fingers against his collar bone.

He chuckled and munched the spring roll.

'Prick.' She told him.

He rolled his hips up against her. 'Why, yes it is. So glad you passed your anatomy classes, you being a doctor and all.'

'Okay, sarcastic prick.'

He looked down as he finished the spring roll. 'You think, I never thought he had a personality but if you insist.' He shrugged and resisted the wince that resulted from her slapping his shoulder. 'Abuse!'

'Shut up, or I'll leave you and him alone to enjoy your dirty weekend by your lone-selves.'

'Ooh, so it's a _dirty_ weekend now?'

She shrugged. 'It was going to be, but now…' She sat up and moved away from him and he lunged for her and pulled her back down again. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him.

'But now you've been overcome with an insane urge to stay right here with me.' He smirked at her and rolled with her so that the faux fur of the throw was silky against her back.

'We need a plan.' She said suddenly.

'A plan? I was thinking about just winging it, I mean we've managed so far.' He bobbed his eyebrows at her and she laughed and fiddled her fingers in his hair.

'No, I meant, one; what are we going to tell Wilson and two; what are we going to do with him?'

'Does it really warrant a huge plan of revenge?' He shifted slightly so he could reach over for the vanilla cheesecake that they had bought from the deli down the street. He picked up a slice and dragged his finger through the rich creamy topping.

She pretended to think about it a moment. 'Uh-huh.'

'I mean, we had a good time. Well, I certainly did.'

'I know, but there are some things you can get away with and playing a trick on your boss and your friend is not one of them.' She arched up and bit a chunk off the cake, chewing thoughtfully. 'Besides, he'll be absolutely impossible to live with if he finds out he was right.'

'That was my bit of cake.' He accused.

'You've still got loads and you stole my spring roll.'

'You want to share?' A mischievous glint entered his eyes and she arched a brow at him.

'You don't share.'

'Course I do.' He grinned and promptly tipped the cake over her and smeared it over her belly.

'House!' Lisa squirmed as the thick cream was slathered over her stomach, ribs and up over her chest. 'You cretin! That's disgusting!'

'Hush!' He told her, gripping her hips to stop her wriggling. He lapped some of it off and she gasped.

'That's…' She trailed off as he licked more of the crushed dessert from her skin. He smoothed his tongue over her skin and then crunched a piece of the biscuit base that had broken over her ribs. He cleaned the cream off the toned muscles of her stomach, the ridge of her ribs and then the curve of her breast. He finished by swirling his tongue around her nipple with a slurp. 'Mmm…that's good.'

He lifted his head and grinned down at her. 'I knew you'd come around. Ooh, look another slice.'

'Bad man. Actually…this gives me an idea.' She dragged her finger over the creamy cake and sucked the icing from her finger. She grinned at his hopeful expression. 'Mind out of the gutter, I was talking about Wilson.'

He scowled. 'And there was me trying to distract you.'

'And you can continue to do so when you've heard my idea.'

'I dunno, you're just not as conniving as I am.'

'Anyway, here's what I think…'


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: SSSMMMMMMUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!**

**Clear enough for y'all?**

**Hot of the presses so there's probably a few mistakes. I got a job interview tomorrow so wish me luck, peeps, I'm gonna need it. **

**Special lil preview at the end for all you loyal readers out there. **

**Review me. **

**Chapter 11: Down and out, But Not Quite**

Cuddy awoke late Saturday night, or possibly very early Sunday morning, and frowned as she realised she was alone in his big bed. She lifted her head and frowned as a chink of yellow light from the hallway fell on her face. She scrubbed a hand through her wildly tumbling hair and yawned as she identified the strains of a well played piano filtering through from the living room. She grumbled slightly as she rolled the sheet tightly about herself and wriggled caterpillar style to the edge of the bed. Shuffling to her feet, she ignored her reflection in the mirror in case she gave herself nightmares and stumbled out into the hall.

There was no way the man couldn't be tired. They hadn't left the house all day and they hadn't exactly been idle. She was dead on her feet but she was worried about him so she staggered through to the living room and leant against the wall for a moment as she watched him play.

His eyes were half shut and he appeared to be firmly ensconced in 'the zone' as his fingers danced over the keys. A tumbler of whisky sat on the piano top but looked as if it hadn't been touched as he replayed the same few bars over and over. Head tilted listening for the defect that, apparently, only he could hear.

She must have moved, or made some kind of noise, because he looked up at her and grinned. She touched a hand to her hair self consciously and tried to glare at him. 'Shut up.'

'I didn't say anything.' He defended himself as she crossed to him and stood at his shoulder.

'You were thinking it.'

He looked up at her and then scooched over a bit on the bench. 'Here, sit, you're practically asleep and I don't want you cracking your head on my nice clean floor.' He told her as he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her down next to him.

She was actually surprised that he wanted her here but she hid a smile behind a sarcastic comment. 'Blood stains are just so hard to get out.' She lamented.

'Speaking from experience?' he asked as he played the next few bars of the unnamed song.

'You ever wonder what happened to the head of cardio thoracics who got caught drinking on the job?'

'I thought he got fired.' He played her game with a smile.

'Ah, that's what I wanted you all to think.' She pretended satisfaction at a public well duped but sort of ruined it with a cavernous yawn. She watched the hypnotising movement of his hands for a few moments and smiled a sort of dreamy smile, blaming it firmly on sleep deprivation. 'This is beautiful, what is it?'

'Just something in the air…you like it?'

'Mm-hmm, it's soft and kind of sad sounding though. Is it a ballad?'

'A Ballad?'

'I always liked songs that told stories. You ever hear _Vallentino_? Saddest song I ever heard.' She said sleepily as she let her head fall against his shoulder.

'The one about the waitress that wanted to be a Hollywood star and her lover made the break instead? She dies on the beach.'

'Crushed carnation in her hand…' Cuddy nodded against his shoulder.

'If you're that tired you can go to bed. You don't have to stay up with us insomniacs.' He told her gently when she fell silent for a few moments.

'Hmm…it's a big bed.'

'I know. I'm a big guy.'

She managed a tired chuckle. 'No need to tell me that, I ache in all the right places because of it.'

He couldn't suppress a smug smile at that. 'It's no bigger than your bed.' He pointed out.

'Yeah but…' She sighed.

'But what?' He asked, playing a soft lullaby now that she was on the edge of sleep.

'Now it feels lonely without you in it.' She said around a yawn.

'Right, come on, we'll go to bed.' He decided abruptly and shut the piano lid down over the keys. He pulled her up with him and she managed to wake enough to stumble along beside him back to the bedroom. He laid her down gently on the bed and pulled another sheet up over her toga before pulling off the jeans that he'd yanked on earlier. He climbed in beside her and reached over to snag his vicodin, he stopped with a smile when he saw that she'd put a water glass beside them for him. He shrugged, as long as she didn't see him drinking it, she wouldn't gloat. He downed the pill and the water and draped his arm over her. She made a contented sound and wriggled towards him.

He lay quietly beside her, expecting to stay awake for another few hours at least, but she was right. It was a lot easier to sleep when you didn't feel lonely in an awfully big bed.

Neither of them saw it, but he fell asleep with a smile on his face and slept right though until the morning.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

'Lisa?' He called out into the empty apartment, swinging the door shut behind him. A small shot of fear lanced him, she wouldn't have gone home this early would she? They still had a good few hours left until she had to get back to her house and get ready for work the next day.

'Bathroom.' She called back absently. She had the voice on. The voice that meant she was reading something and not really paying attention to the real world. He dumped his grocery bags and limped along the hall to knock on the ajar door.

'Come on in.' She murmured. It must have been a really good book.

He pushed through the door and took in the sight of her. she was sitting in his tub, her hair pinned up in a messy knot on top of her head, a book open in front of her and one leg folded over her knee as she bounced her foot up and down, bubbles and water dripping off it.

Of course she had a curl wrapped around her finger as she fidgeted with it.

'"Forensic Science?" You're reading a crime scene investigator's book?'

She looked up at him, as if surprised he was there and frowned slightly. 'It's interesting.' She defended her reading material.

'Not very pretty though.' He reasoned.

'No…but neither are you.' She said vacantly as she turned her attention back to her book and the importance of wrapping the hair just so around her finger.

'Hey!' He sat on the edge of the tub and reached in to flick bubbles at her.

She smirked. 'You'll get my book wet.'

He solved the problem by snatching it out of her hands and tossing it over his shoulder. It flew out into the hall and landed with a thud.

'Hey!' She reached after it, even though it was long gone and then turned the glare on him.

'I was reading that.'

'And now you're not. Life's all about change.' He informed her cheerfully as he tugged off his jacket and threw it out into the hall to land on top of the book.

'Change? How about the weather turning frosty?' She folded her arms over her chest and arched a brow at him.

'Nah, I'm too hot.' He smirked at her as he leant across the bath and supported himself with a hand on each side before kissing her softly on the lips.

'Sure of yourself aren't you?'

'The ladies do like confidence.' He reached out and trailed a finger through the suds on her shoulder and then down to follow the curve of her breast.

Lisa took her chance without mercy. Her hand wrapped around the wrist of the hand that was supporting him above her and she yanked. He yowled as he suddenly found himself tumbling into the water. She laughed as soapy water sloshed over the sides of the tub and he came up spluttering. He scrubbed a hand over his face as she laughed at him.

'Oh, you do realise, this means war?' He warned her as he kicked off his shoes, one of the few things that had managed to stay dry through his impromptu bath.

'Bring it, bubble-boy.' She smirked at him.

'Fine.' He snapped and ripped the plug out of the bath. Water sucked away and Cuddy protested mildly, though she was really far to interested in what he was going to do next.

'Hmm, too much bubbles.' He muttered and reached up to switch the shower on as he pulled himself completely into the bath and whipped the shower curtain around. The water sprayed down on them even as it washed away beneath them and he grinned as he pulled her under him. Bubbles swirled away down the drain leaving nothing between them except for his sodden clothes. She reached up and pulled her hair out of the knot so that it tumbled down her back and shoulders and quickly became drenched. He ripped his tee shirt off and it slapped into the sink he thought as he brought his mouth down on hers hard. She moaned and arched towards his slick chest as cool water, almost like rain, sluiced down over his back and dripped around his body onto her.

The rest of his clothes were quickly pitched over the side of the tub in favour of having more skin on skin contact. He kept kissing her as his hand closed over her breast and he rolled her nipple between his fingers. She moaned encouragement even as her hands slid down his sides and then around to wrap around the hot hard length of him. He hissed a breath between his teeth as she grinned up at him and stroked him.

She raised her knees on either side of his hips and made room for him as he slid over her hot core. She moaned as their skin slid against each other. He licked water from her throat, followed the line of her jaw and rumbled in her ear.

'Now?'

'No, tomorrow you ass, why do you always…oh, FUCK!' She moaned as he thrust into her, her hips twisted against the shock of sensation and she whimpered as every red hot inch of him slammed into her with an electrifying pleasure. She threw her head back and her hair splashed dark against the white of the porcelain bath.

He looked down at her and thought he'd always remember this. Remember how magnificently gorgeous she was in this moment, arched and screaming under him. Quivering and melting around him as man-made rain hammered down on them.

She forced her eyes open and looked up at him. Her hands reached up and she cupped his face, smiling that secret smile of hers. He lowered himself to his elbows, holding her gaze as he thrust almost lazily into her. He reached up and slid his fingers through hers. He held their hands palm to palm above her head as he lunged into her hard enough to have her gasping and squeezing her eyes shut as sensation warred with restraint in her body.

She opened her eyes again and grinned up at him between the kisses that he dropped on her lips and throat. He raised his head one more and their gazes clashed blue on blue with an almost audible note of emotion. Something he didn't want to name shimmered in the depths of her eyes and, though neither of them said a word, they somehow managed to get across exactly what they were feeling.

She wriggled one of her hands out of his and reached up to smooth it over his jaw as she pulled him down for another tongue tangling kiss. He understood why a moment later when she shattered for him, screaming into his mouth. He shouted as he followed her into bliss and actually shook above her as he tried to will the strength back into his limbs. He reached up and flicked the shower off.

The warm rain shut off and he pulled the curtain back around the bath and unwillingly let the real world back in. He was above her with his arms braced, only slightly quaking now, as his chest heaved and he tried to get enough oxygen.

'I will be eternally embarrassed if you have a heart attack.' She muttered, eyes still shut as she panted herself.

'Nothing compared to how I'd feel.' He smirked as he pulled her up with him and sat back so that she straddled him, her head resting against his shoulder and her arms linked around his neck.

'That was really…'

'Uncomfortable.' She finished for him.

'I didn't hear you complaining.' He smoothed shining water droplets of her back even as he smirked.

'Yeah, too busy screaming. I'm surprised the neighbours don't complain.' She chuckled at the notion.

'Nah, they're enjoying the show.' He reassured her.

She made a disgruntled sound.

'Ah, you're just cranky because you haven't had lunch yet.'

'I do not get cranky.' She told him emphatically.

'Yuh-huh, whatever. I remember that meeting when you hadn't had anything, I don't think Carson has ever been the same since.' He smirked at her and eased her away from him. She climbed out of the tub and looked down at the water sloshed all over the tiles.

'Oh well, fuck that. I don't have the energy to clean.' She threw a few towels over the mess and shrugged before turning and helping him out the tub.

'I thought it was called "post-coital bliss" because you'd just had sex and you were happy.' He pondered out loud and she glared at him.

'I'm just tired.'

'Well, I can sleep at work tomorrow, but you can have a nap now if you like.' He offered and looked for something to dry himself with that hadn't been used as an impromptu mop. 'You have a towel?'

She handed him a hand towel and then wrung her hair out over the bath before sweeping most of the water off her skin and then padding out of the room. He watched her go, slightly non-plussed, swept the towel over his own frame, pulled on his discarded jeans and followed after her.

He found her in the bedroom pulling on a black pair of sweats and a zip up top. She pulled out a hairbrush and yawned as she attempted to brush the tangles out of her hair. She was still damp and he followed her through to the living room and watched her carefully as she collapsed onto the couch, gave another half-hearted attempt to brush her hair and then sighed before flopping onto her side and giving up completely.

He pulled her up and then sat behind her. 'Here, let me.' He took the brush from her and pulled her back so that she could rest most of her body against his chest.

She looked at him, evidently not trusting him with her hair and he tilted his brush in his hand. 'I let you shave me when you were being distinctly less than friendly towards me if I recall correctly.'

'Fine.' She murmured and sagged against him.

He carefully worked the brush through her hair and never once tugged or jerked her painfully. 'Where did you learn to do this?' She asked him.

'My mom used to have this long blonde hair that went down past her hips, she'd brush it every morning before putting it up in this big bun…I was the only one she'd trust to brush her hair but herself.' He found it oddly soothing to sit there and brush her hair.

'We can never go back, you know.' She said suddenly before she could stop herself. His hands stilled on her hair and she could have kicked herself.

He resumed his task. 'I know. Life's about change, right?'

She looked out the window as he swept the brush through her damp, now tangle free hair. 'Right.' She agreed quietly.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Dinner was a quiet affair as they were both more focused on how little time they had left together. They sat opposite each other by his scarred table and thought of all the things they hadn't said to each other.

When they had both finished he asked her if she wanted to stay and watch a film.

She said no, it was time that she was going, she was still tired and had a lot to do before tomorrow.

He asked if she wanted a lift back on the bike.

Again, she shook her head and said she'd take a cab.

Her bag was packed, her hair pulled back in a loose knot at her nape, her face blank of make up and he could honestly say he'd never seen her look more beautiful but…never more sad either.

She hid it well, he'd give her that, but it was there lingering in the sea green depths of her eyes. The cab pulled up outside and she let her fist bounce once against her hip as she searched for the adequate words.

'I guess this is it then.' She finally settled on.

'Guess so.' He reached out and took her hand pulling her closer. He opened his mouth to go on, to say that it didn't have to be over but he wouldn't. He'd had more than they'd agreed on. Stolen another few days, another few lazy hours in bed with her, taken a few more kisses than had strictly been agreed on. He reached up and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

She turned her face up to him and he kissed her gently, almost chastely on the lips. She looked at him a moment and then managed to dredge up a smile.

'What kind of goodbye kiss was that?' Unshed tears shone in her eyes but he smiled back at her before they could fall.

'You're right, how stupid of me.' He dropped his cane and lifted his hands to cup her face. He pulled her towards him and she tilted her head to him as their mouths slid together for what had to be the last time.

She moaned and his hands slid down her back as he kissed her fiercely and settled on her hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back for all she was worth. Her tongue sliding against his, her teeth nipping his lips and her nails scoring down over his arms.

The cab horn sounded again and they parted reluctantly. There was no sound between them except for their breathing.

'Bye Greg.' She said it so quietly he nearly missed it. She stopped grabbed up her bag and then swept out the apartment. She didn't look back. She couldn't. She slipped into the cab and blurted her address at the man as the first tears began to fall.

She shut her eyes tight against them and then turned to look back one last time. She could just make him out through the gloom of the falling night. Just glimpse him standing silhouetted in the doorway of his apartment.

Now that was all she'd ever get.

A glimpse of Greg.

She would see House everyday. They would trade insults, barbs and glares but she would never again have him look at her as a lover and a friend, never have his hands tremble as he reached for her and she would never not be lonely in her bed again.

She sniffed and whipped her eyes. Why was she thinking like that? She was a modern woman. She could damn well have it all thank you very much! She almost managed a smile as she sat back in her chair and began to plot, he thought she wasn't as conniving as he was, well, she'd show him.

Lisa Cuddy was not down and out just yet.

Oh no, not by a long shot.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**!!!!PREVIEW!!!!**

**Nyah-hah, I spring it upon thee again!**

**This one's quite a long one, but you need to get the scene that I have in mind for our two favourite characters. **

**Tee-hee. **

_Cuddy sat behind her desk as she smiled at Mr Barber, her smile faltered slightly when her knee hit something that definitely shouldn't be under her desk. She pulled back and looked down to see House sitting calmly under her desk. Her eyes widened and she deliberately clicked her mouth shut before looking up at Barber with an over bright smile. She whipped her foot out and was satisfied to hear a muffled grunt of pain as her Prada shod toe hit something soft._

_Her smile faltered slightly when his retaliation was to circle her ankle with his fingers and hold her foot cupped between his palms._

'_Uh, what?' She managed to choke as House set about removing her shoe. Barber had been saying something._

'_About the cardio wing that you have planned…'_

_Cuddy didn't hear the rest as hot mischievous fingers trailed up over her leg, swirled around her calf, past her knee and she glanced down in time to see a familiar hand slipping under the hem of her skirt._

'_Oh, God.' She muttered and shut her eyes briefly._

'_Pardon?'_

'_I…uh, good! That's a good idea.' Cuddy guessed wildly as House's fingers reached the silk of her underwear and slid over the fabric teasingly. Cuddy felt her pulse race and she pulled at her shirt and tried to keep a normal rate of breathing as Greg pulled her chair closer under the desk._

'_Are you alright?'_

'_Huh?' Cuddy looked up and realised that her pupils were probably dilated, she was definitely flushed and trying very hard not to pant._

'_You look flushed, are you well?' Barber repeated._

'_Uh, actually, no I feel…' House slid his fingers around her underwear and thrust into her. 'Good God!' Cuddy slapped the desk with her palm, causing Barber to jump as she gasped. She tilted her head down and pressed a hand to her forehead. 'Migraine!' She gasped. 'I have a migraine. They come on suddenly.'_

'_Should I…?' Barber gestured vaguely to the nurses milling about outside in the clinic._

'_No, just go.' Cuddy choked out and gestured wildly towards the door._

'_Are you sure you're going to be…?'_

'_GO!' Cuddy nearly yelled and Barber jumped out of his seat and flew out the door._

_As soon as it swung shut her chair was shoved back, she was hauled out of it and fell to the floor under him as his mouth came down hard on hers. His hands shoved her skirt up and pulled her underwear down and off and it was hastily stowed in his pocket._

'_What are you doing?' She gasped as he pulled open her suit jacket and flipped the front clasp of her bra undone so that she was bared to him. He grinned wickedly as he bent to swirl his tongue around her nipple._

'_I would have thought it was fairly obvious.'_

**Mwah-hah! **

**Go on now, review, you know you wanna. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: What can I say? **

**They have no willpower. I tried to convince them that they had to stay apart for some of the much needed angst and you wouldn't believe the foul-mouth that is on that Cuddy when she's denied something she wants…**

**Anyway, I have just this second decided where I'm going with this and it's gonna be fun with a capital FUH. **

**Tee-hee, for me at least. **

**No previews this chappie kiddie-winks, I need to iron out the kinks in the plotline and I don't want to be forced to go somewhere on an impulse that could cock up the story completely. **

**I have started chapter...whatever it is for 'Family Secret' and it's very…well, I'm not gonna tell ya, but I think it's good, so far. **

**You know, I've never actually killed anyone off before…I always bottle it at the last moment. **

**Ho-hum, anyways, you gotta review me because I'm into that instant gratification thing. **

**Ciao, Scribe**

**Chapter 12: No Willpower Avaliable**

House walked into Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital for the first time in over two weeks and bit back a sigh. He limped past the front desk, summarily ignoring everyone and headed for the elevators he jabbed the button for the third floor with his cane and waited impatiently for the car to arrive. He looked down as the doors swished open and froze.

Oh God, what was she wearing?

A black fitted jacket, open to reveal a hint of her red lace bra and held closed with only one black button to nip in at her slim waist. His eyes trailed down and he nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw the jagged hem of the leather skirt she was wearing, at least five inches shorter than the norm, fine mesh fishnet stockings and a pair of blood red do-me heels. The breath whooshed out of him as she smiled softly. Her hair tumbled in soft curls down about her face and was styled to give that pretend just rolled out of bed tousle. Her make up was done to perfectly imitate the post coital flush that he knew scored her cheeks, swollen kissed-hard lips and shadowed bedroom eyes that sparked at him teasingly.

'Dr House.' She said by way of greeting and stood back to allow him to enter the elevator with her. 'I've been waiting for you.'

He nodded. 'Cuddy.' He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for his floor. Her vanilla strawberry scent teased him horrendously and his fingers tightened on his cane as she draped her arms behind her back and pulled her jacket tight across her chest. From where he was standing he could see right down the valley of her cleavage. His teeth gritted as he tried to break the habit of reacting to her.

'You organize that thing for Wilson?' She asked him with a bright smile. Why did she have to look so damn gorgeous?

'Uh-huh, I phoned the company and gave the guy the key to get in. Good old, Jimmy-boy will wake up tomorrow to a Dominatrix linebacker squirrel complete with whip, mask and whipped cream pie.' House smiled down at her slightly aghast expression. 'There was a special offer on the squirrels and dominants so I got both.'

'Whip, mask and cream pie?' She asked slowly.

'Yeah, acorn confetti was included in the price, he didn't tell me what they were for and I didn't ask.'

She smothered a smile and ducked her head slightly. The doors opened and he stepped out, she looked up at him and her smile broadened. 'Cream is such an inventive thing, don't you think?'

His eyebrows shot up at her reference to their vacation. A slow smile tugged his lips. 'Well I certainly enjoyed experimenting.' He told her slowly.

'Hmm, good memories, it's a pity really.' She said candidly, her hand holding the doors of the elevator open.

'What is?'

'That you didn't want anything more than memories.' She smiled gently as she said it and then lifted her hand away from the door. They hissed shut while he still gaped at her and then the elevator dropped away from his floor.

House's smile disappeared as soon as she left his side and a dark mood overtook him without the distraction of her presence to distract him. He pushed into the office and the team looked up at him with varying expressions on their faces. At least, Cameron looked pleased to see him. She held out a red cup of coffee to him and he took it from her.

'You have a good vacation?' She asked him cheerfully.

He really wasn't in the mood for cheerful. 'It was fine.' He tossed a bag of highland toffees on the desk. 'Here, Daddy was thinking of you while he was away. Now, what cases have we got?'

They all seemed slightly surprised at the abrupt change of subject but Cameron held out a folder to him and he flipped it open as she babbled the differential at him. Maybe if he threw himself into his work then it might be enough of a distraction.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

House's mood was, in a word; forbidding. The team quickly learned to avoid him, putting it down to back at work blues when in fact they suspected his leg might hurt a little more than he cared to admit. There was much frantic discussion between Cameron and Wilson and finally there came a knock at House's office door.

It was Wilson. He opened the door with a quiet knock and blinked in surprise when he saw House looking over various papers related to his patients and actually filling them in correctly.

'I'm not hiding you. I'm still pissed at you.' Which was true, because if he and Cuddy had actually had a break from each other they would never have gotten together, never had the best sex of his life and he would still have the empty feeling in his chest of loneliness but at least it wouldn't feel like the raw gaping wound that he had now.

Wilson was well aware that revenge was heading swiftly his way. He had the sneaking suspicion that House was just lulling him into a false sense of security, but it was really Cuddy he had to watch out for. He knew from first hand experience what kind of hell a woman could unleash on the unsuspecting male.

'Um, actually I just came to talk.'

'Well done, you're doing it already. Mamma Wilson will be so proud.' House said dryly and didn't once look up from his papers.

Wilson frowned slightly and entered the room cautiously. He strode over and took a seat opposite his friend, who still wouldn't look up at him.

'What happened in Scotland?'

House's head flew up and his eyes widened before he swiftly covered it with a scowl. Not quick enough, though. Wilson had seen the slip and a small glint of determination entered his eye as he resolved himself to find out what had went on.

'Nothing much. It rained.' House brushed it off and went back to his papers, though he suddenly couldn't read a word.

'Something happened. I don't really care if you tell me or not, but you might want to reconsider…I don't know, staying with her.'

'I already stayed with her for a while, you saw to that, and it was hell.' House snapped and added a glare for good measure before furiously trying to get his brain to cooperate and read the damn words. They were even in English, see? Shouldn't be that difficult but nooooo.

'If it's any comfort, I think she's as miserable as you are. She's been working herself into the ground all day.'

'She probably has a lot to catch up on. You know what she's like. Finding work where there isn't any.' House said in what was supposed to be an unconcerned tone.

'Uh-huh, sure she is.' Wilson sighed. 'What did you do to her?'

'Nothing.' House said.

'Everybody lies.'

House's head lifted at that and he narrowed his eyes at his friend. 'You're not going to leave until you're satisfied that I'll go and apologise to her, are you?' He demanded.

Wilson shrugged. 'Yup.'

'Fine.' House turned his attention back to his papers.

'That's it? Just "fine"? No screaming, no shouting and no sarcastic comments?'

'Nope.' House said.

'You'll apologise to her then?'

'If that'll make you go away.' House agreed.

'You'll say you're sorry?' Wilson clarified.

'Sure.'

'Right, well…good.' Wilson stood slowly and House went back to ignoring him. 'You want to go out tonight? Happy hour at the Grange.'

'No.'

Wilson nodded and then turned to the door. He stopped and turned back to see that House hadn't moved. He watched as he turned a page and scribbled something in the doctor's comments box before flipping the folder shut and moving onto the next one.

House was being a real doctor.

It was actually really frightening.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy moved through the day on autopilot. Her smile felt so fixed that she thought her face might as well have been plaster. She went to board meetings, smoothed ruffled feathers and took on donor after donor and immersed herself in her work.

It didn't help in the least little bit.

She was in the process of showing a Mr Barber around the hospital, only half of her attention invested in selling Princeton-Plainsboro to him as the other half of her mind reeled about her House problem. He hadn't said anything after she'd dropped her little bombshell at the elevator. Instead, he had looked sort of stunned as the doors had hissed shut and he definitely hadn't come down to her office to see her and ask what she had meant. She mentally worried it as she kept her smile fixed and extolled the virtues of the sleep lab and finally the clinic.

She finished by leading Barber into her office to make at least a half-hearted attempt to get some money out of him. She was resigned to failing miserably but she might as well pretend to do her job.

Cuddy sat behind her desk as she smiled at Mr Barber, her smile faltered slightly when her knee hit something that definitely shouldn't be under her desk. She pulled back and looked down to see House sitting calmly under her desk. Her eyes widened and she deliberately clicked her mouth shut before looking up at Barber with an over bright smile. She whipped her foot out and was satisfied to hear a muffled grunt of pain as her Prada shod toe hit something soft.

Her smile faltered slightly when his retaliation was to circle her ankle with his fingers and hold her foot cupped between his palms.

'Uh, what?' She managed to choke as House set about removing her shoe. Barber had been saying something.

'About the cardio wing that you have planned…'

Cuddy didn't hear the rest as hot mischievous fingers trailed up over her leg, swirled around her calf, past her knee and she glanced down in time to see a familiar hand slipping under the hem of her skirt.

'Oh, God.' She muttered and shut her eyes briefly.

'Pardon?'

'I…uh, good! That's a good idea.' Cuddy guessed wildly as House's fingers reached the silk of her underwear and slid over the fabric teasingly. Cuddy felt her pulse race and she pulled at her shirt and tried to keep a normal rate of breathing as Greg pulled her chair closer under the desk.

'Are you alright?'

'Huh?' Cuddy looked up and realised that her pupils were probably dilated, she was definitely flushed and trying very hard not to pant.

'You look flushed, are you well?' Barber repeated.

'Uh, actually, no I feel…' House slid his fingers around her underwear and thrust into her. 'Good God!' Cuddy slapped the desk with her palm, causing Barber to jump as she gasped. She tilted her head down and pressed a hand to her forehead. 'Migraine!' She gasped. 'I have a migraine. They come on suddenly.'

'Should I…?' Barber gestured vaguely to the nurses milling about outside in the clinic.

'No, just go.' Cuddy choked out and gestured wildly towards the door.

'Are you sure you're going to be…?'

'GO!' Cuddy nearly yelled and Barber jumped out of his seat and flew out the door.

As soon as it swung shut her chair was shoved back, she was hauled out of it and fell to the floor under him as his mouth came down hard on hers. His hands shoved her skirt up and pulled her underwear down and off and it was hastily stowed in his pocket.

'What are you doing?' She gasped as he pulled open her suit jacket and flipped the front clasp of her bra undone so that she was bared to him. He grinned wickedly as he bent to swirl his tongue around her nipple.

'I would have thought it was fairly obvious.'

'Ah, god, Greg.' She moaned as she tangled her fingers through his hair, her leg slid over his hip and hooked there as he thrust against her. 'No, no, no.' She said and pushed his head away. He made a muffled sound of regret but allowed her to push him away. She frantically re-buttoned her jacket and rolled to her feet, striding across the office and opening the door. He shut his eyes and just lay there, having no idea why she was walking out on him…again.

He heard her say something to her assistant and then the door shut. His eyes snapped open as the blinds were slid over the windows and the lock clicked on the door. He rolled into a sitting position and watched as she moved behind him and shut the blinds over the windows as well.

'Couch.' She said.

'Huh?'

She spared him a glance as she sorted the windows. 'Get on the couch. Quickly.' He limped over to the couch and stood in front of it a trifle uncertainly as she finished sorting the blinds. She turned to him and planted her hands on her hips with a glare.

He would freely admit that he had no fucking clue what she was up to.

'If you _ever_ camp under my desk again I'm going to throw your ass out my hospital so hard that you bounce all the way back to Scotland. Do you have any idea what might have happened if he had seen you?' She hissed at him.

He decided that this was not going to plan.

'Now,' Her hand went to her jacket and she shrugged it off in one fluid movement, taking her bra with it as it crumpled to the floor. She advanced towards him with a slow smile on her face and pushed him down onto the couch. 'Why don't you sit down so that I can ride you until your other leg is lame?' She straddled him neatly as her mouth came down on his.

He moaned into her mouth as he filled his hands with her. He stroked his fingers up her bare back and then around to drag his thumbs over her nipples. Her mouth tore from his and she arched on his lap with a gasp. 'Oh God.' She murmured as she unbuckled his belt and shoved his jeans out the way. 'I've got to have you now.' She gasped against his lips as she freed him from his jeans and shoved them out the way.

'What happened to the vacation rules?' He asked between biting kisses.

'I can fuck you just as easily on this side of the Atlantic.' She told him as she twisted her hips and plunged down on him. He bit back a shout of pleasure as he slid his hands under her fantastic leather skirt to grip her hips.

'That didn't last long.' He threw his head back on a groan as she pulled his shirt open and laved her tongue over his chest.

'You complaining?' She asked as she nipped his collar bone.

'Only if you stop.' He leant forward and took her mouth again, burying his fingers in her hair and angling her mouth hard against his. She gripped his shoulders as she rode him hard with a long deep rhythm. She shivered around him as pleasure rocked her and reminded herself that she had to be quiet as she was still at work and her assistant was just outside. She settled for moaning against his mouth and wrapping her arms around his neck. She was so close to just letting go and screaming her damn head off. Her nails dug into his skin and he growled in pleasure as he twisted his hips and set of a fire burst of pleasure in her. He swallowed her muffled scream and then lunged into her and shuddered as he spilled himself into her.

'Mmm…I have no willpower.' She murmured against his neck as she panted and tried to regain some semblance of calm.

'You kidding? I thought you were going to walk out and fetch security.' He panted and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She ran her palm over his chest and smiled. 'What made you come down here?'

'Aside from a leather mini-skirt that's so provocative that it should be illegal?'

She chuckled and nodded. 'Aside from that.'

'I wanted you…more like needed you, actually.' He splayed his fingers over her shoulder blades and enjoyed the feeling of her skin cooling under his hand. 'Plus, I had to know if these were pantyhose or stockings.' He teased her and reached down to run a finger over her garter. 'I'm going to buy shares.' He confided as she lifted her head and smiled at him.

It faded a little as a thought occurred to her. 'We have to get back to work.'

'Hmm, do we have to?' He whined and rolled his hips under hers. She gasped as he throbbed inside her.

She looked on the verge of clambering off him and then a small smile kicked her lips. 'I suppose I can't have you doing clinic in that state.' She purred and kissed him as he smirked and rolled her beneath him on the couch.

It was a further hour before Cuddy managed to get over her migraine and return to her administrative duties and if anyone was surprised at Dr House's sudden change of mood from medical maniac to mellow, they knew better than to mention it.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay, first of all: argh!**

**This has been the hardest thing to write, like, EVER and I think that reflects on the utmost crappiness of the drabble that I happen to be posting but…meh, I just can't summon the effort to care anymore. **

**Je suis annoyed. **

**I don't know if this chapter is…I dunno, coherent enough. I have no idea if vicodin would affect someone like this, it is a narcotic and I suppose she isn't used to it. **

**Anyway, to some, this may be a bit "Eeeeeww…female!' but tough, coz it is relelvant to the plot (hah!) that I'm working on. Again, no previews but I just wrote this in the last half hour and I'm posting it before I go to work so read and review and I might actually be inspired onto better things, if not, I'm just going to abandon it for a while. **

**HOUSE SEASON 3 STARTS ON THE 22ND OF MARCH MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! **

**And…breathe. **

**HIT THAT PURPLE BUUUTTOOOONN!!!!**

**And Mika's album is really, really, REALLY weird.**

**Randomocity. **

**Chapter 13: Obviously**

Lisa sat in the dark of his room and looked down at him as he slept. This was probably one of the more stupid things she had ever done. She shivered slightly as she watched him sleep, reaching out gently and brushing his hair back from his brow. She was cold and her heart felt like a stone cracking in her chest.

She loved him.

Actually loved him.

She had never thought that she might fall in love. Get married, sure she might do that; have kids…she had given up on that one, though she had always wanted them; live with someone in a committed relationship, sure, why not?

But it had never even occurred to her that she might fall _in_ love. She hadn't thought herself the type. Hadn't really believed in it. Had never even considered that it might hurt this much.

He grumbled in his sleep and his arm tightened over her legs as he rested his cheek against her thigh. He was so warm, she felt like all the heat had been leached from her body. A single tear slid down her face and she wiped it away hurriedly, not wanting him to see even though he was asleep. She drew in a deep shuddering breath and rubbed her palm over his back wanting to take some of his heat into herself. Wanting to feel warm again and wanting to stop feeling at the same time. She let her head fall back against the headboard with a soft thump and thought about how much an idiot she was for letting this happen.

Not only does she fall in love but she falls in love with the least suitable man in history. It would never work between them. She was too controlling and he just revelled in chaos, he broke the rules and she enforced them. Whatever they were doing at the moment, it wasn't really a relationship…at least she didn't think so.

'You okay?'

Her head whipped down and she saw him roll onto his back and look up at her. She forced a smile at him. 'Yeah, just…my brain wouldn't shut down.' She chuckled and the noise sounded strangled even to her own ears. 'I guess you gave me your insomnia.' She said the first thing that came into her head and tried to ignore how stupid it sounded.

'You should have woken me.' He scolded and gripped her hip, pulling her down the bed so that he could wrap his arms around her and pull her against him. 'You're cold.' He accused her. 'That may be why you can't go to sleep.' He told her in his 'duh' tone and she twisted her lips at him.

'Asshole, can't get a moment's peace from you even in bed.' She lamented on a yawn. It was easier to slip back into the snark and avoid the talking about serious things. Maybe one day she might work up the courage to break new ground and have an adult conversation with him, but tonight wasn't that night.

'Well, it's not as if you were peaceful earlier. I distinctly remember some screaming.' He grinned at her, a slice of white teeth in the dim light of the room.

'Oh, hah-hah, it is to laugh.' She grumbled but let her head fall against his shoulder. His hand smoothed soothing circles on her back and she felt her eyes grow heavy. 'Hmm, that's nice.' She mumbled and her palm opened over his heart and absorbed the rhythm of his life.

'You going to tell me why you were really awake?' He asked her slowly and she stiffened slightly in his arms before burying her face closer to his pulse at his neck.

'Probably not.' She muttered, her lips brushing his neck.

'Why?'

She thought about it for so long that he thought she might have even fallen asleep. Her voice was a surprise to him when she eventually spoke.

'I don't want to lie to you.'

It was his turn to start in surprise and he looked down at her, a frown creasing his brow. She looked up at him and shrugged one shoulder, as if that explained everything. Her head settled back against his shoulder. 'I'm funny that way.'

Well, Greg lay on his back and stroked a hand up and down her spine as he considered that. He supposed that he could live with it, for a while at least.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wilson squirmed and frowned as he slowly awakened. Something wasn't right. He grumbled as he sat up in bed and scrubbed a hand through his chronic case of bed-head. He froze as a deep voice cleared in a throat somewhere nearby. His eyes flashed open and he stared in wonderment at the huge man standing at the end of his bed. He was dressed in a…squirrel suit and a…dominatrix mask.

Okay, either he was still dreaming or…bad, bad things were about to happen to him.

'Let me guess.' Wilson swallowed hard. 'House sent you?'

The squirrel grinned from behind his black PVC mask and toted a huge cream pie. 'Yup.'

Wilson sighed and braced himself for whatever was coming. 'At least I know I'm right.'

That was right before the cream pie hit him full in the face.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Lisa jerked in her sleep and frowned, keeping her eyes shut. She bit her lip as she rolled onto her side and wrapped an arm around her stomach. Cramp fisted low in her belly and twisted viciously, the pain shot up her spine and slapped at the base of her skull, she moaned as she rolled onto her side and stood carefully. She gritted her teeth and gasped hard through the pain, damnit, this was ridiculous, time to see her doctor. She hobbled along the hall and found the bathroom cabinet. He was bound to have painkillers somewhere, he had to. Huh, Vicodin, it would have to do. She rummaged until she found what she wanted and then popped two of the pills, barely pausing between that and lowering herself carefully to the bathroom floor and leaning against the cool ceramic of the tub.

'You really shouldn't dry swallow those things, you know.' He told her as he stood over her. She opened her eyes to see a glass of water hovering by her nose. She reached up and took it, sipping carefully. He sat heavily down beside her on the floor. 'Judging by the way you're trying to sink lower and smaller into yourself I'd say…cramp?'

'Hmm!' Lisa let her fall back against the tub with a clunk as her insides revolted once more with a violence she hadn't thought possible. Usually, Lisa liked being female but sometimes she really hated it…this feeling usually occurred once a month. 'Yes.' She eventually gritted out.

'Is it usually this bad?' He frowned in concern. She really did seem to be in quite a lot of pain.

She shook her head mutely and heaved in a breath before rousing enough strength to continue. 'I think it's because I'm on the pill…huh!' Pain lashed her and she slammed her fist against the floor to distract herself. 'It'll pass.' She didn't know if she was trying to convince him or herself but she said it anyway.

'Okay, enough with the brave face thing.' He hauled himself to his feet and pulled her as gently as he could to hers.

'No, don't want to be vertical.' She mumbled as he wrapped an arm about her waist and held her up against his chest.

'Women have higher pain thresholds than men, suck it up.' He told her and flipped the shower on to hot. Water battered down into the tub and she grumbled as he tugged the tee shirt that she'd commandeered from him off her. 'You're not getting Jack Daniel soggy so deal.' His tone was gruff but his hands were gentle as he held her and directed her into the tub. He stripped off his own clothes and followed her in. He held her under the spray so it fell warmly against her stomach, his fingers splayed over her skin and he massaged her belly. 'Just breathe through it, okay?' He told her and her head fell back against his shoulder.

'This is weird.' She said as she shivered in his hold. As usual, he was right, standing was helping and so was the massage.

'The cramp, I thought you said…'

'I meant you doing the caring thing.' She turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his waist. Her head rested on his shoulder and his chin brushed her hair. He was surprised for a moment and then recovered as he settled his arm around her.

'Yeah, well…if I stop with the nice, so do you and I've kind of gotten used to my midnight delight sessions.'

'I like you better when you're quiet.' She murmured against his neck and her arms tightened around him again as another cramp pulled at her.

'Oddly enough, I like you better screaming, so I guess we'll just have to learn to deal.' He brushed it off and she chuckled against him. Then she giggled and swayed slightly. He frowned down at her as she laughed again.

'What did you take?'

'Vicodin...heh, I can see why you like this stuff…very groovy.' She snorted and stumbled slightly as she tried to step away from him.

'How many did you take?' He pulled her back against him and checked her pupils, they were dilated.

'Umm…two.' She snorted as if this was absolutely hilarious. 'Wow, my hand is amazing.' She flipped her hand back and forth and giggled again.

Greg sighed. Great, she was high. It happened in a small percent of cases, but sometimes vicodin hit people a lot harder than usual. Especially when they weren't used to it and they damn well go and take two of his stash. 'Okay, back to bed.' He told her and wrapped a towel around her before snatching up his cane and steering her back to his bedroom.

She giggled again and rubbed her hands over his chest as she walked backwards into the bedroom. 'You gonna come with?'

'Lisa…you're high, I'm not going to take advantage of that…' What was he saying?

'Aw, but I take advantage of your drug addled state all the time. It's lots of fun.' Her lips found his neck and she loosened the towel and let it drop to the floor. Her hands smoothed over his shoulders, down his back and trailed over his ass. 'I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I really like your ass.'

'Well, as flattering as that is…' He tried to get her back on the bed, and maybe cover her up so she wasn't completely tempting. Her hand wrapped around his cock and tugged. 'Guh!' He went still as she pressed herself against him, her tongue lapped against the swell of his pectoral as she rubbed herself against him. She stroked him up and down and pulled him towards the bed, going where he wanted her to go but perhaps not in the manner he'd had in mind. He wanted nothing more than to push her down on the bed and take her until they both just melted into each other, but she was high and she didn't know what she was saying. She would regret it in the afternoon.

'Lisa, just lie down and go to sleep. You'll feel better after you sleep.'

'Don't wanna sleep.' She was on the bed though, her hands rubbing over his chest again. Her tactile sensory perception must have increased, she was like a cat rolling in catnip. 'I want you. Hard and fast and oh-so good. Don't you want me?' She nipped at his neck and kissed his chin as she pulled him down between her legs, smoothing the curves of her legs over his hips.

'I would have thought that obvious.' His hips thrust against her involuntarily and she chuckled and speared her fingers through his hair, luxuriating in the feel of his springing curls against her skin.

'You don't like obvious.' She said as he lowered himself against her, pinning her to the mattress, she wrapped her arms around his neck and anchored him to her body. She tangled her legs with his and smiled up at him, her eyes still glassy and a smile on her full lips. 'Women don't like obvious either.'

He tilted his head and she giggled as she curled her fingers in his hair again. 'Women in general, or you?'

'Hum…both.' She shrugged and smirked.

'Would you prefer…the unobvious?' Maybe if he distracted her she might just forget about the whole screwing his brains thing out and decide to sleep it off. To be honest, though, he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted her to go through with that plan.

'Well,' she adopted a thoughtful tone but couldn't quite wipe the smirk from her face. 'Men seem to think so many things are obvious that they don't realise that they have to communicate these obvious things on occasion.' She patted his head and pushed at his shoulder so he rolled over, rather willingly as it happened, and she sat up straddling him and huffed a stray damp lock of hair out of her eyes.

'How verbose. What are you talking about?'

'Oh…it's _obvious._' She smirked as she leant down and brushed her lips over his.

'Is it really?' He gasped as she wriggled against him.

'Oh yeah, nothing you want to say? Nothing that you might think that I would already _know?_ Hmm?' Her lips trailed down his neck.

'A clue? What do you want?' He tried not to squirm too much under her. That would just exacerbate things.

'No clues. You're clever, you'll figure it out.' She told him confidently and jumped when the phone bleated insistently on the bedside cabinet. He tried to stop her, but her legs tightened on his hips to keep him still as she snatched up the handset and answered cheerfully.

'Hello, Dr House's phone.' She grinned down at him and wriggled her hips against him as she listened to the voice on the other end. 'Oh _hi_, Wilson! Did you get our present?'

Greg clapped both hands over his face and swore, she was going to be so pissed when she came down from this and found out that she had blabbed to Wilson. The mouth of Princeton-Plainsboro. He lowered his hands and looked up at her. 'Lisa, give me the phone.' He held a hand out for it and she smirked as she laced her fingers through his and waggled his hand as she chatted to Wilson.

'Well, no, I didn't know that a squirrel would do that…he _sat_ on you?!' She was silent a moment and looked at Greg open mouthed a moment before snorting and giggling. She stifled it quickly. 'No, I'm not laughing…what do you mean what am I doing at House's house?' She frowned. 'You're a man, Wilson. Surely it's _obvious.'_

'Give me the phone. Lisa.' Greg tried once more and reached with his other hand to take the phone from her. She pulled back and tried to avoid him. He grunted and rolled her beneath him, she shrieked and laughed and the phone went flying, it took him a moment to still her and reach for the handset. Eventually, he managed to get it and lift it to his ear.

'Jimmy?'

'Is this a bad time?' Wilson asked, his amusement evident in his tone.

'Noooo…' Greg let the word trail off as Lisa draped herself over his shoulders. He was lying on his stomach and she seemed intent on learning the shape of his back, the curve of his spine and exactly how sensitive he was in the corner of his neck. He jerked once and made a small sound of surprise. 'Maybe.' He amended.

'Well, at least your apology went over well.' Wilson sounded as if he could take credit for the entire situation.

'No…she's high.' Her hands slid around his chest and smoothed over the muscles there, tickling down over her ribs.

'High?' Wilson was silent a moment. 'Well…that's different. What did you give her?'

'I didn't _give_ her anything. She had cramps, she took two of my vicodin and apparently, she can't handle it very well.' He jolted again as she nibbled at his ear. 'Or maybe she's handling it okay…let go of that.' He told her and squirmed.

She chuckled again and flopped down onto her side, looking up at him and twirling her fingers in his hair, grinning inanely. 'Your bed-head's cute.'

'I am not cute.'

'Did she just call you cute?' Wilson laughed down the line.

'Oh shut up,' Greg snapped. 'The squirrel's sending me the negatives.' He flipped the phone shut and turned his attention back to Lisa. 'I believe you were saying something?'

She just laughed and rolled onto her back, throwing her arms up above her head and twisting this way and that for a few moments. He watched her, taking in the sight of her naked body and just content to see her loll about on his bed. He propped his head on his hand and thought about how he was going to get to work and if she might actually come down off of cloud nine and go to the hospital or just remain high. He tried to keep his amusement to himself as she shimmied across the mattress towards him and looked up at him from where she was tucked in the shadow of his body. He smirked down at her and her hand trailed over the rough feeling of his jaw even as his hand smoothed over her belly. 'What?' He asked her ignoring the fact that she had taken to not answering his questions recently.

'I was just thinking…' She pursed her lips and looked on the verge of saying something meaningful. She tilted her head as if the new angle would help her enunciate.

'About what?' He prompted her.

She opened her mouth she clicked it shut again suddenly and then flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling. 'You need a shave.' She mused quietly.

'That's it?' He asked incredulously.

'Were you expecting something else?' Her tone was almost accusatory under the playful notes.

'Maybe not something so obvious.'

She snorted. 'Right, you know, for someone who notices the smallest details, you sure do seem to be missing something rather huge.' It wasn't quite as insulting as she might have intended because she gave a great cavernous yawn and rolled her head against his arm. 'It's actually almost funny.' She said tiredly and curled more firmly into his frame.

'Just to you, I think.' He told her, not quite comfortable being kept in the dark.

'I don't find it funny at all.' She yawned again and relaxed completely as she fell asleep against his chest.

He stared at her for a moment, completely at a loss. He pondered what to do for a moment and then decided to actually get up and go to work. He was careful, as he left her, not to wake her and dressed in quick hurried movements. He stared at her a moment and then pulled the sheet up over her, smoothing her hair out of her face he dropped a kiss on her lips and then straightened, surprised at his own action. He hurriedly scrawled a note to her and left it propped up on the bedside table where she could easily see it and then left his apartment.

Her words gnawed at him. Not only did she seem content to taunt him about knowing something he didn't…he had a sneaking suspicion that she just might know something that he was missing.

The only problem was; he had no idea what she was talking about.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Okay, incredibly short chapter here. In fact, not even a chapter really. Written out in about fifteen minutes. Mistakes probably abound and junk but I thought I'd just better get it out there so y'all can review and freak out about it. **

**Definitely some squeeage going on here. **

**I just figure…Cuddy's usually the first to say it and I don't want to keep doing the same thing. **

**I think this is about to become very disjointed. I don't even know if I'll keep this chapter up…meh. I'm knackered and I've just decided to rewrite my freaking novel…again. **

**FFS. I hate my muse, I really do. **

**You're seriously beginning to piss me off Thinks at him. **

**Muse: Snert. **

**See? SEE? No sympathy. **

**Little figment prick. **

**Argh, okay officially acting off my meds at the minute but, ah well. It makes for good writing sometime. Just watched 'Pan's Labyrinth' and…ERK! With the new half smile of the cheek! How weird is that film…? **

**Anyways, on with the show. **

**Read and review PSqW 9. **

**Interlude: WTF?**

House glowered as he limped through the hospital corridors. He still didn't know what he was supposed to be getting. He rolled his eyes as Wilson fell into step beside him.

'Hey.' Wilson said cheerfully as he looked up at the older doctor.

'Oh, what do you want?'

'How's the girlfriend? Still high?' Wilson ignored House's scowl and fiercely kept his cheerful disposition.

'Shut up, or I'll tell her you said that.' House threatened. 'The squirrel was my idea. She hasn't even gotten started yet.'

Wilson faltered slightly at that and stared at House. House smirked at his small victory as he hobbled along the hallway and attempted to ignore Wilson a little better. Wilson, however, didn't see things that way. He hurried to catch up with House again.

'Admit it. I helped you two to get together. You're just pissed because you didn't have the guts to act yourself.' He sounded unbearably smug about the whole situation.

'Which part of "shut up" didn't you understand? Besides, what makes you think that we haven't been together for years?"

Wilson shrugged. 'I can tell.' He grinned. 'You wanna know how?' House sighed and stabbed the button for the elevator.

'I await your wisdom with baited breath.' He said dryly.

'Well, you should because I'm much better at this than you are.' Wilson told him.

'I forget, is that getting married or divorced that you're better at? Because I must be good at the other one.' House pressed his lips together as if thinking about it.

Wilson scowled and exited the lift in front of House. He turned at his office door and decided to say something just to throw his friend off. Besides, it might even be true.

'At least I could always tell when they loved me.' He shot over his shoulder and disappeared into his office.

House stood in stunned silence for a moment and then clicked his mouth shut and glared harder at the head oncologist's office door. He grumbled to himself and then turned away to limp towards his own office. Wilson didn't know what he was talking about.

Did he?

Cameron popped her head out of the briefing room door and nodded to House. 'Dr House, we have a case.'

House forced a grin. 'Oh goody, another running nose to stopper. How fun for me.' He pretended amusement as he limped into the room, forcing Cameron to back away hurriedly out of his path. He took the case notes and flipped idly through them without really reading and then perused the team and demanded a differential diagnosis from them. He was halfway through scrawling another one of the symptoms on the whiteboard when his cell phone bleated in his pocket. He rummaged until he found it and then took a double take at the caller ID, usually he would have just either let it ring out or have ignored it completely. He pressed it to his ear instead and spoke a greeting.

'No, you can't have anymore of my stash.' He smirked as he finished writing on the board and then turned back to the team pointing to indicate which tests he wanted done and then waving to send them scurrying.

She chuckled a deep amused purr in his ear and he theorised that she might still be high. 'I have no desire to take any more of the nasty pills.' She assured him and he could hear her moving about.

'What are you doing?'

'Picking out underwear.' She told him absently and he stilled. Now this was interesting.

"You're back at your place?" He was a little put out that she had left his apartment but covered it well as he shot a glare at a loitering Cameron and sent her away with an imperious wave of his hand.

"Well, I don't have an underwear drawer in your apartment, do I?" She reasoned and he rolled his eyes.

"Will you be coming back?" He didn't want to ask but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"No…" He could hear more rummaging and grimaced at the lash of disappointment that stroked through his chest. There was no real point in denying it to himself, he _wanted_ to be with her, as sickening as that may have been. He sighed. "You're coming here though." She told him and rummaged some more. He brightened pathetically at that.

"What shall I bring?"

"Just yourself." He could hear the smirk in her voice.

He grinned, getting into the playful mood with her. "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, that would be telling. When are you coming home?"

"Hmm, I dunno, there's this mean little boss woman that throws a hissy fit if I don't punch out at five." He smirked to himself and enjoyed the way her voice lowered in pretend annoyance.

"Bearing in mind that certain individuals shall be sleeping in the car if they're not careful…be here for six?"

"Six it is." He agreed and looked rather mournfully at the clock, a whole two hours away.

"Okay, I'll see you then. Bye." She signed off and he grinned.

"Right." He stood slowly and looked out the window at the bright afternoon. "Love you, bye." He said and then flipped the phone shut and hung up.

The realisation hit him at what he'd just said and he stared, wide eyed, at the treacherous technology in his hand.

"Fuck." He said and stared at the damn phone. How could he have just said that? Why did he say that? He didn't love her…did he?

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Across town Cuddy stared incredulously at her phone. She stood dressed only in her fig-leaf underwear and black silk thigh length robe. Her bra and panties had been made up of slinky black gauze that was just this side of transparent, adorned with glitter adorned green velvet fig leaves to highlight the curves of her body. The garter belt and sheer stockings matched.

He had just said…oy vey.

He didn't love her…did he?

Lisa bit her lip and stared at the phone as it sat innocently in her palm. Should she call him back? Pass comment on it?

No, he'd probably just said it out of habit.

Yeah, because he made a habit of telling Wilson he loved him whenever he hung up. She rolled her eyes at herself at that line of reasoning.

So, what to do?

Oh, hell.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: First Comes Love Then Comes Acceptance**

House looked down at the bleating phone in his hand and pressed his lips together as he considered answering it. He sighed and then punched the button and pressed it to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"You're late." She told him, as if he didn't know. He was surprised that he couldn't hear a note of accusation in her voice. She didn't sound pissed at him, she sounded curious almost.

"Yeah." He said again and looked through the glass wall at his patient. "The brain tumour guy, he's getting worse."

"Oh." Her voice was quiet and he could hear her moving about as if taking a seat and settling in for a long conversation. He braced himself for the nag, for the guilt trip at not calling her for the hurt small voice at him putting his work before him.

It never came.

"What are his stats?" She asked instead and he was so surprised that she had to ask again before he could formulate an answer.

"Dropping fast, I'm trying something different…listen, I'm sorry for not calling, I just got…" He gestured and thought it extremely odd that he was apologising for being himself. He had never done it before, not even with Stacy.

"You got caught up in the case. It's alright. I know what you're like." He could almost hear the soft smile on her lips as she said it. He could almost believe that she really meant it. "Do you think you'll be able to come over or are you just going back to your place?" She asked him completely unaware of the silent reeling that he was doing on the other end of the phone.

"I don't know if I can get him stabilised." He said dumbly, she was really throwing him for a loop here. "I might be really late."

"Okay." Again came the easy acceptance and he was instinctively wary of it. He'd never had that before and he didn't trust it.

"Okay?" He asked back and this time she laughed. The sound dripped down the phone and was a balm to him, even if she hadn't meant it to be.

"Yes, Greg, it's okay. It's not often you actually do your job, I'm not about to start complaining when you do it voluntarily…just try not to piss off too many people."

He grinned at that. "I never actually go out of my way…"

"Bullshit, you revel in it. Anyway, I'd better let you go." She said and he stilled at that, he suddenly didn't want her to go. He enjoyed the sound of her voice purring in his ear. It was so different from her work voice and it was the same as well. He was brought back to the conversation as she spoke again. "Anyway, if you decide it's not too late, you know where the key is. If not, I'll see you tomorrow." She sounded almost cheerful and he was annoyed at that, she should be upset if he wasn't there. He blinked at that thought and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Yeah…" He really wasn't contributing anything of great worth to this conversation and it was beginning to grate on him. He was about to hang up when her voice stopped him.

"And Greg?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I do too."

With that, she hung up and he was left listening to the dial tone. It took him a moment to figure out what she had meant and, when he did, he stood there, in the middle of the busy corridor of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital with the biggest stupidest grin on his face. He was almost embarrassed to be himself, but he couldn't quite bring himself to wipe it from his face.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Lisa murmured a wordless sound as she awoke. She stretched her feet out and stilled as her toes encountered something at the edge of her bed. Her eyes flashed open and she could just make out the shape of him sitting with his back to her on the edge of the mattress. He half turned so he could see her reclining against the pillows.

"Hey." His voice was soft in the dark and she smiled.

"Hey back." The smile slipped from her face as he turned away from her and rested his head in his hands. She sat up, reaching out and gently laying her hand on his back between his shoulder blades. "You alright?" She couldn't keep the note of concern from her voice.

"My patient…he died." He sounded stunned, like he couldn't believe what had happened.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, we fixed him, we solved the problem. A defective heart valve and we fixed it. He was in recovery and then…he just shut down." He turned to her then, leaning into her touch. "He just snuffed out. For no reason."

Lisa was at a loss for words. She had never really seen this side of him up close. She knew that he cared about his patients, some of them at least, more than he let on but she had never had the chance to witness the effect it had on him before. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her chin against his neck in a silent comfort. He reached up and laid his hand over hers and tilted his head so that it rested against her brow.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He said eventually and she smiled.

"It's okay. Come to bed?" She tugged him gently and reached down to unbutton his shirt for him. He kicked off his shoes and turned in her arms so that he could see her. she pushed his shirt away and helped him out of the rest of his clothes. He was oddly docile and that worried her more than anything she stilled when he gently gripped her wrist. She lifted her eyes to meet his.

"I just…I need…" He sighed as if not quite sure himself what he needed. "Just be with me, okay? I want to feel and not think for a while."

She nodded, understanding. "Okay." She arched up and kissed him softly and he seemed to relax after that. The ice that had coated him melted away and he shivered under her hands as she smoothed them over his body, removing the remaining clothes that barred her way to his heating skin. His eyes brightened again and he became a little more animated as each second passed in her arms. His cool fingers slipped under the tee shirt she was wearing as a night shirt and danced over her skin affectionately. He already knew the shape of her body but he took comfort from the fact that she let him relearn it every time they were together.

She stroked his face as he laid her gently back onto the mattress and it dipped under their weight. His lips smoothed over hers and she moaned quietly beneath him, letting him have control, letting him take what he needed.

Her legs slid against his as she wrapped them high around his hips and pulled him closer. He slid against the wet heat of her and moaned at the familiar but still heady sensation. He wanted her so much. Her nails gripped gently against his shoulders as he kissed his way down her neck to her collar bone and then down around the curve of her breast. His hand found hers unerringly in the dark and he laced their fingers together as he pushed inside her.

She threw her head back on a gasp at the sensations he could wring from her so casually. He dropped his head against her shoulder and just breathed her in as they moved together. He immersed himself in her and let his mind switch off as he concentrated on just being there.

With her.

He nipped at her neck and trailed kisses towards her ear where he nibbled the soft shell seemingly without thought. He spoke without meaning to.

"Say it." He asked her, pleaded with her. He needed to hear it, even if it was only once. He needed to hear the words from her mouth to his ears. "I need to hear it." He told her as he moved over her, lifting himself on his strong arms and looking down into her aquamarine gaze. "Tell me." He pleaded softly.

She reached up with her free hand and stroked his jaw. A blind woman could have seen the raw vulnerability in his eyes and he probably didn't even realise how much he was letting her see. She took in a deep breath, for courage probably and told him what she'd never told anyone else.

"I love you." The words were soft and she thought that he might not have heard her. she cleared her throat and tried again. Stronger this time. "I love you." It became easier the second time around and his smile was all the reward she really needed. He bent to her and kissed her hard.

She groaned happily against his lips and wrapped her arm around his neck to anchor him there. His hand tightened on her hip and he thrust harder against her letting her know physically how much he felt.

"You're mine?" He hadn't meant for it to come out as a question but she answered anyway.

"Yes."

Something cracked inside him then and for the first time in a long time, Gregory House felt like a complete human being. He shouted against her skin as he shivered and exploded with her in mindless pleasure. He shivered against her and she wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him. She shuddered under him in a reflection of his own pleasure and panted with him. He rolled so that he could gather her close in his arms and pull the sheet up over them.

He had what he needed now. He looked down at her head resting against his chest and hoped that she really felt the same way.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**Preview!!**

**Woot! The long absent has returned. Way-hey-hey! And all that junk. **

**Uuuummm…aye. **

_He strode into her office as boldly as he always did and viciously quashed the nerves low in his stomach as she looked up at him from the various files and folders that were strewn across her desk. He spoke without giving himself a chance to think about it too much. _

"_You're late." _

_She frowned at that and looked about her office briefly as if expecting the answer to leap out at her. She shook her head slowly. _

"_No, I've been here since eight. _You're_ late." She pointed at him with her pen and then returned her attention to her figures and spread sheets. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy."_

_He gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on his cane as he stared down at her. She didn't get it._

"_You came off the pill three days ago and you just spent an extremely hot weekend with me." _

_Her head lifted and her lips parted as comprehension dawned. _

"_You're _late."_ He reiterated and silence echoed as loud as thunder through her office. _

**Dun, dun DUUUUUNNNN!**

**Okay, so not a smutty one but there you are. **

**Read and review. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Uuumm…yes, here I am. First update in a wee while. This chapter's a bit longer than the last two have been so…yeah. I did really try for in character in this one, but I don't know if I pulled it off or not. **

**Meh, who cares? It's not as if I go out of my way to do in-character-ness most of the time. **

**Okay, no preview at the end of this one but if you go and read Pretentious Emo Kid's work then you might have a wee hint of what's going to happen in the next chapter. **

**That chapter will be quite long I think. **

**Hankies at the ready!!!**

**In the mean time, read and review this one for me. **

**Chapter 16: Settling In**

"You stole my paper."

"I did not."

"It's the paper that's delivered to my door and you're reading it before I am. Ergo; theft."

"I'll give it back."

"But it'll have girl cooties on it."

"You didn't mind girl cooties last night. In fact, I seem to recall that you woke me up three times in order to…"

"Alright, alright, alright, fine. Keep the damn paper."

There was silence for a moment as she looked at him across the breakfast table and took in the way he was sprawled sleepily against it in his chair. He had bed head and she thought it was unbearably cute, but knew better than to tell him that. She sipped her coffee as she watched him. He seemed a little skittish.

"Does it bother you me being here?" She asked suddenly and he jumped slightly before looking at her.

"What? Having a hot, willing, woman in my bed would bother me…for why?"

She shrugged. "It's a little odd. It's different. I've been spending a lot of time here and you're used to living alone. It's understandable that you might be uncomfortable."

He popped his morning vicodin and stole her coffee out of her hand in order to wash it down. She didn't protest, better that than him having it dry.

"If I wanted you to leave then I'd ask you to leave." He told her and nursed her coffee with no intention of giving it back.

She snorted and turned her attention back to the paper, flicking the broadsheet so as to straighten a crease out of it. "No you wouldn't."

He looked up sharply at her. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you're not heartless. No matter what you'd like everyone to believe. You'd get cranky and try to push me away, like you're doing now." She pointed out calmly and turned the page.

He stared at her, stunned for a moment. "I'm not cranky." He finally defended himself on an almost whine.

"Sure you are." She said as she turned the page again. She didn't want to read about the war in Iraq again.

"You don't seem all that bothered about my supposed pushing you away." He pointed out and she looked up at him with a small smile over the top of the paper.

"Of course not, you're just adjusting."

"Why do I suddenly feel like a five year old?" He asked her sarcastically.

"You've felt like that your whole life." She told him dryly and finally settled on an article about the new Tom Clancy book.

"You're sleeping with me, what does that say about you?" He shot back and she rolled her eyes.

"Why do you want to argue?" She asked him as she continued to read. Another Jack Ryan novel that was interesting.

"Because you're sitting there in nothing but your robe and arguing turns you on." He reasoned with a grin and leant forward onto his elbows. "C'mon, Lisa, be a mensch. Come over here and show me 'good morning'."

She tilted the paper so that he could have the full effect of The Look and then flipped it back up dismissively so that he couldn't see her grin. "You have got to have the oddest way of asking for sex." She pointed out and he could hear her amusement even if he couldn't see it.

"I'm hearing everything on your lips but 'no', love." He told her and tapped at the paper with the butter knife so that it jerked in her hands.

She snapped the paper shut and slapped it onto the table. "Shouldn't you still be asleep?"

"You woke me up." He pouted and she scowled. That she had.

"You didn't have to actually get up and join me for breakfast." She pointed out.

"You haven't eaten anything, just drunk your icky tea." He gripped the table and shoogled it a little. "Come on, the table's sturdy enough. Hop on and we can get this show on the road."

"Wow." She drawled and flipped the paper back up again. "What a heartthrob I've got myself here…and I'm going to have muesli in a minute. If I ever get reading this paper." She could feel his stare through the paper. "We eat off the table." She said eventually and knew she'd made a mistake as soon as he chuckled.

"We ate off the floor last week, and I ate off you. You didn't complain then." He said with a smirk and knew he'd scored a point by the way her grip tightened on the paper's edges.

"You didn't give me much choice." There was a breathy hint in her voice that lost her a few points but she was confidant she could regain them. She waited for his next barb, pretending to read the paper and stilled when it didn't come. She dropped the paper down and frowned when she found the chair opposite her empty. "Greg…?"

She only had a moment of confused silence before a warm hand gripped her knee and uncrossed her legs from under the table in one smooth move. She shrieked in surprise and shot backwards on the chair over the slick tiles in the kitchen floor.

"You ass! You scared me." She informed him tightly as she swatted him with the rolled up newspaper.

"Ouch, weekend edition!" He mock whined and braced himself on her chair so he was half standing over her at eye level. "I decided to cut out the middle man, c'mere." She had little choice but to meet his mouth as he angled his head towards hers and claimed his good morning kiss. She hummed happily against his lips as he shifted and stood over her, bent at the waist, her arms wrapped up around his neck and his hands sliding down her sides to grip her hips.

She deepened the kiss and wrapped her legs around his waist as he lifted her right out of the chair and into his arms. She only realised exactly what he'd done when he staggered slightly. She tore her mouth from his. "Greg! Put me down, your leg…"

"Is not going to be supporting both of us for long." He told her and turned, pivoting on his good leg and sweeping a space clear on the table with one brawny arm and laying her down on it bending over her to keep her there. He silenced any further protest she might have with his lips hard against hers again. He grinned down at her and nipped her neck and lower to her collar bone. "Mmm, breakfast is served." He chuckled against her skin and she gasped.

"Wow, I beat out stale toast. I'm honoured." She said wryly as he loosened the belt at her waist and parted the black silk robe over her naked body.

"You know what goes well with toast?" He asked her as he grinned wickedly. The wry smile slipped from her face. She recognised that grin. It meant bad things for her. Greg leant over and picked up something that hadn't been cleared from the table with his impromptu sweep of his arm. He held up a bear shaped plastic bottle. "Honey." He waggled it mischievously.

"Don't you dare get any on this robe." She warned him. He noted that she didn't say no to being smothered in honey.

"I'll buy you a new one." He told her as an insurance policy and upended the bottle over her stomach.

She gasped and the muscles over her belly tightened as cool sticky honey dripped down over them and up between her breasts.

"Mmm…" Greg hummed against her skin and she arched under him as his tongue swept the honey away in long wet laps from his tongue. Her chest was heaving and her eyes heavy by the time he had cleaned the last golden drop from her body with his sinfully good tongue. "That feel good?" He asked her, already knowing the answer as she mewled under him.

"Why don't you find out?" She asked him back and shoved his shoulders up so he stood, leaning on the table with one hand. Her knees gripped his hips as she yanked his white tee shirt up over his head and threw it somewhere in the vicinity of the sink. She snatched the honey bottle from him and swirled a curling pattern over his chest. She grinned as it began to drip down over the planes of his chest and lower over his belly. She bent and licked from his navel upwards. She swirled her tongue around his flat male nipple and upward over his collar bone, nibbling the hollow of his throat and reaching up with her manicured nails to scratch them roughly through the scruff on his jaw. It made a delicious scraping sound and she bit her lip on a grin as she turned his face to hers.

"Feel good?" She asked wickedly and he growled and gripped her thighs, lifting her legs and wrapping them more firmly around his hips. She tipped the bottle of honey against her fingers and then smeared it over his lips. He chuckled at the neat freak making such a mess but it died in his throat as she lapped the sticky sugary sweetness from his mouth and then let her tongue slide over his just in case she's missed any. He was dimly aware of the bottle falling from her hand and clunking to the floor as she tunnelled her hands into his hair and gripped him tighter. Their sticky bodies clinging to each other as they slid against each other. He pushed her back down against the table and her hands shoved at his pyjama pants, shoving them roughly down over his hips.

He gripped her wrist as he kicked the pants away and smoothed his tongue over her honey slick fingers. Her lips parted and her lashes fluttered closed on a groan as he sucked her fingers into his mouth one by one until they were all clean. He pulled her arms from her robe and let it flutter down under her at the table so it cushioned her from the rough hewn wood of his pine dining table.

"Gorgeous." He murmured against her skin. Her hand stroked over his shoulders and down his back as her lips found his once more. They murmured countless things to each other as he teased them on the edge of reason and pleasure.

"Now." She demanded, tugging at his hips. Her legs tightened over his hips. His cock was hot and hard against her and all her patience had evaporated. She wanted all of him, right now in this instant, and that was that. He took her mouth and gripped her hips with his long fingered hands as he thrust heavily into her. She cried out sharply against his lips. Pleasure scored over every nerve ending and she whimpered at the pulsing sensation of him buried deep inside her. She would never get tired of the fire that blazed between them. She would never want anyone else but him.

He gripped the edge of the table for balance as well as leverage as he plunged into her as hard as she could take it. She was already shivering with pleasure and it would take very little to send her over the edge and into paradise. Just as well, really, because he was on a knife edge for her.

"Come for me, Lisa. Let me see how good it feels on your face." He asked her as he trailed his fingers down her cheek and rubbed his thumb over her full lower lip. Her tongue snaked out and lapped him there and he grinned at her. She nibbled his skin next and he almost laughed at how playful she could get. He really didn't deserve her and he hoped to God that she never realised that.

Then he stopped thinking altogether as she arched her back and screamed for him. He was half a second behind her as he yelled against her hair and shook over her.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy walked into the apartment that night with her bag of groceries and a little something extra under her arm. She looked over at him as he sat in front of the baby grand, his hands dancing unwatched over the keys as he followed her every movement with his eyes. She smiled at him as she recognised the unnamed tune that spilled into the room from the polished and well loved instrument.

"Still not finished that yet?" She asked him as she dumped her bag and shifted the paper sack more securely on her hip.

He shrugged easily and let his eyes trail over her in a heated caress. Her breath caught even across the room and she smirked and did some hot looking herself. She wondered if it would always be this way with them, between them, if the heat would always blaze so readily. "It's only been a few weeks work. Still needs some ironing out." He explained and nodded to her sack of food. "What you got there?"

"Dinner." She said and moved through to his small kitchen. Her eyes caught on the table and heat scored her cheeks as the last time she had sat on that table swam into her head. She bit her lip and turned away before she got really distracted. She jumped as his hands found her waist and turned him to her. His lips took hers and all rational thought abruptly ceased as he kissed her fully and hard. He only pulled away when the need for air became paramount and grinned down at her, his arms still surrounding her.

"What kind of dinner?"

"Potatoes, steaks…" She trailed off as he bent his head and kissed down her neck. She knew he was doing it to distract her, so he could look in the bag without her seeing.

"Condoms?" He asked her incredulously as he straightened and pulled the box out of the bag and waggled it at her. "Why Dr Cuddy, I had no idea that breakfast had been that inspiring." He teased her but the question was there in his eyes never the less.

She snatched the box off him and stuffed it back into the bag. "They're for dessert, you cretin." She grinned as he ran his hands lower over her body.

"How about a starter?"

"No. You need sustenance, you've been eating junk all day." She told him, having seen the demolished wrappers from various foodstuffs littered over his coffee table. Never on the piano, nothing but books ever managed to get onto that polished surface. His hands were, however, inching the hem of her skirt a little higher.

"Why condoms, something wrong?"

"I'm off the pill, do the math." She told him shortly, not really wanting to have an in depth conversation about this with him. He seemed to be of the same mind.

"There's something else. You've got that 'I'm so brilliant' look." He nibbled at her ear as his hands wandered under her jacket and plucked the button free.

"You mean the one you usually wear?"

He chuckled warmly against her throat. "That's the one. Spill."

"I've done some prudent rearranging of the duty roster." She told him casually and he stilled, lifting his head.

"And…?"

"And, I'm yours for the weekend." She smirked and wrapped her arms around his neck leaning into his kisses.

"Wow…a free maid for the weekend." He said and grabbed her back when she slapped his shoulder and stalked away from him. She was being as serious as he was and was smiling when he crowded her up against the table for the second time that day, hopefully, this time would have similar results to the last.

"Why do I put up with you?" she asked him as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

"Because you love me to the moon and back." He told her, adopting a child like tone and her smile softened as her eyes met his.

"Yeah…" She blinked and it was gone as she shook her hair out and flashed a grin at him. "More than that, Greg, at least once around your colossal ego." She jabbed him in the ribs with mischievous fingers and he grunted before grabbing her wrist and pinning them to the table edge.

"Such ill manners, I'll have to punish you." He said between snatched kisses and her chuckle deepened to a purr.

"Feel free, you've got the whole weekend."

Then he kissed her and neither of them spoke for a long while after that.


	17. Chapter 17

**Ack! Megod! **

**A lot, LOT, of swearing while writing this chapter. Urgh! Each word was like pulling a tooth without anaesthetic and really shitty pliers. As a result, about half of it is…not the way I was hoping it to be and the other half is…grrr. **

**Je suis not a happy bunny. **

**About halfway through I discovered the secret was to listen to really heavy rap metal and just try and switch off and autotype. I've not even proof read this puppy so it probably won't make much sense. **

**But I'm stubborn and I'm going to post this fucker if it kills someone. **

**Just had another idea for a fanfic…NOOOO must restrain self! It is a truly weird one with Bette Middler in it…she plays a therapist. I will write that one when I'm finished 'Family Secret' and this bad puppy. I've no idea how long this one has to go and I've no idea how well this chapter is going to go down. Brutally honest with the reviews peeps, tell me if it's crap and I'll repost it for ya. **

**Also…nope, it's gone. **

**Oh yeah, who remembers She-Ra? You know, Princess of Power. I was overcome with nostalgia the other night and searched on and…hehehehehehe. Camper than a row of pink sequined sparkly tents. I love it!**

**Trying to write my novel today…didn't succeed very much…fuckit. Give me some inspirational reviews. You know I love it and then I'll start writing again. **

**Slightly longer chapter this time. Read and review me. **

**Chapter 17: And It All Goes Horribly Wrong**

"So, I'll see you tonight?" She asked with a purr as she stroked her hand over his bare chest. She was leaning over him and her palm was warm as it slid lower over his belly.

"You keep that up and I won't let you leave at all." He smirked at her, coming to full wakefulness and planted a hand on her back. Grunting in annoyance when he realised she was fully dressed.

"I've been off for two days in a row, if I don't go back now, who knows what might happen."

"They might discover they can run the place without you." He pointed out and ran his fingers along her jaw, tipping her chin and bringing her lips to his once more.

"No, the place is full of incompetents. That's my job security." She smiled at him between stolen kisses and moaned in annoyance before sitting up straighter. "I should really go."

"Yup." He smiled wickedly and rolled her beneath him in one fluid motion. "You probably should." He smirked and inched her skirt higher up her legs as he slid between them. He circled his hips against hers and she gasped at the grinding contact. He pressed a kiss to her lips and then trailed lower with his questing mouth.

"Stop it." She laughed and pushed half heartedly at his naked chest. "I need to go to work." She shoved him harder and rolled him beneath her so she was straddling him. She kissed him once more and then swung away from him and off the bed. She smoothed her suit as best she could and then smiled down at his pout. "See you later, honey." She said it cheerfully and he scowled at her. it flipped to a grin as soon as she disappeared around the corner. He heard her leave with a slam of the front door and yawned. He supposed he'd better get up too. He rolled from the bed and rubbed absently at his leg, dry popping his breakfast vicodin. He snatched up his cane and limped through to the kitchen.

He sighed as he saw the mess they had made. House cleaning hadn't exactly been a high priority and even when they'd tried to do the dishes last night the water had been too easy to soak her clothes and make her take them off and one thing had lead to another and…the dishes had become a bit of a none-priority. His eyes fell onto the box of condoms that still lay on its side on the kitchen table. The small foil packets, what little there were left, were scattered across the table. He picked one up and flipped it between his fingers on a wry chuckle. It stilled in his throat as something occurred to him. He frowned as he double checked his mental calculations.

Oh…shit.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

He strode into her office as boldly as he always did and viciously quashed the nerves low in his stomach as she looked up at him from the various files and folders that were strewn across her desk. He spoke without giving himself a chance to think about it too much.

"You're late."

She frowned at that and looked about her office briefly as if expecting the answer to leap out at her. She shook her head slowly.

"No, I've been here since eight. _You're_ late." She pointed at him with her pen and then returned her attention to her figures and spread sheets. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy."

He gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on his cane as he stared down at her. She didn't get it.

"You came off the pill three days ago and you just spent an extremely hot weekend with me."

Her head lifted and her lips parted as comprehension dawned.

"You're _late_." He reiterated and silence echoed as loud as thunder through her office He watched her mull it over for a moment and then she dropped her pen and folded her hands neatly over the papers. She licked her lips and thought about how she might respond to this.

"And?" She asked eventually and he slouched into the chair opposite her.

"What do you mean 'and'? You went to medical school. You know what this could mean?" He bit at her and she remained placid. Somebody had to.

"I could be pregnant." She said slowly and watched his reaction. The word hung in the air between them and he fell silent and didn't look at her as he scrubbed his hand over his jaw in a thoughtful way. She wasn't used to being the one in complete control. To be honest, she had suspected for a while. She had known _something_ was different and being pregnant would explain a lot of that away. House, however, seemed to be taking it slightly less well than she was. She could practically hear his mind racing as he looked anywhere but at her for a few moments.

He looked up at her suddenly. "I don't want kids."

She tilted her head. "And I do."

He looked away from her and then back again. "I wouldn't be any good as a father."

"I think you would." She said it quietly and his gaze snapped to hers.

"Don't romanticise me, Lisa. We both know I'm a bastard."

She leant forward on the desk and rested her head on her hands as she propped her elbows there. "And we both know I love you anyway." She said this in an equally quiet tone and he couldn't pull his eyes from hers. He wanted to hang his head but he couldn't, she wouldn't let him. She spoke gently to him but there was something unbearably sad in her voice as she did so. "I'm not going to force you to stay if you want to leave. I'll get the blood test and I'll let you know." She sat back and released him.

He stood slowly and watched her as she calmly looked up at him. It seemed slightly odd to have their entire relationship born of fire and suddenly to have it as cool as an ocean on a hot day. There were a lot of unspoken questions in the air, a lot of them which he already knew the answers to. He walked towards the door and opened it, he thought he heard her move or just a hitch in her breathing and he turned to her. She hadn't moved at all. There was nothing left to say…except, he couldn't say it. Not in the cool light of day. He limped out the door and let it click quietly shut behind himself.

In the office, Cuddy watched him go. Thinking right up until the door shut behind him that he would turn and realise…realise what? That she loved him? He already knew that…maybe he just didn't believe it. She had seen the way he looked whenever she said it to him. He looked as if he didn't believe it, that she only thought she loved him and didn't know what she was saying. He never said it back. At least, not when he thought she would hear him. At night, usually, just before she was completely asleep he would whisper in her ear what she meant to him. The words had always seemed so much brighter in the dark gloom of their bedroom. She turned her face away from the door as a single tear slid down over her cheek. She supposed she should be angry, that he would leave at the first sign of trouble. They didn't even know that she was definitely pregnant.

Somehow, she didn't think that was the problem.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy looked up at the soft knock on her door and sighed when she saw who it was. She had been waiting for this.

"What do you want, Wilson?" She asked tiredly as she flipped between the papers on her desk and the documents on her computer, double checking the information.

"You got a minute? I wanted to talk to you." He opened with and Cuddy resisted the urge to grind her teeth. If she said no, he would go, he wasn't like House in that way but he would be back later. He was convinced that he was right, in that way he was like House. She flopped the folder closed on her desk and minimised the documents, sitting back in her chair and giving him her full attention along with her 'well?' face.

Wilson took the chair opposite her and opened his mouth as if unsure of where to start. Cuddy wasn't exactly inclined to make it easy for him.

"How are things?" He finally asked and Cuddy very nearly did roll her eyes at that one.

"Things?"

"With House." Wilson clarified.

"Not good." Cuddy didn't bother to deny it. Wilson knew and he knew that she knew that he knew, so she decided to stop thinking about that before it gave her a headache. "Why do you ask?"

"Just…this is House we're talking about. He always does this. He convinces himself he's not good enough for anyone and then he pushes them away it's just he…you shouldn't give up on him…" Wilson trailed off, not quite sure how to say this.

Cuddy's temper flared and snapped in one fluid motion. "You really don't have _any_ respect for either of us, do you?" She demanded coolly and Wilson froze, genuinely surprised at how she could have come to that conclusion.

"What?"

"You sent us away on vacation together knowing that we would probably give in to the chemistry between us but did it once, ever, occur to you that there might be a reason that we had never gotten together before this?"

"Uh…" Wilson trailed off. He had expected a friendly chat, not an all out attack from the dean. If anyone was going to warn him off about this he would have expected House to do it, not Cuddy.

"Of course you didn't." Cuddy answered for him. "You just thought that you were right and it would both do us good." She seemed to be getting more irate the more she thought about it.

"Aren't you happy?" Wilson's head came up, worried now.

"Yes, we were, are, but the point is that you've lectured House about ignoring the rules and going ahead and doing his own thing countless times over the years and then you go right ahead and do exactly that to House…and to me."

"That was…" Wilson was cut off again by the livid woman sitting across from him.

"How dare you do that, Wilson? Why would you put either of us in the position where we were forced to care more than we should and have to choose one thing or the other. Status quo or House, that's the choice you gave me, and it damn near broke me." She snapped at him.

"What's he done?" Wilson demanded.

She shrugged and turned away from him. "I could be pregnant, he's not taking it well." She may have been mad at Wilson, it was her fault she supposed, but he was still one of the best friends she had.

Wilson rocked back in his chair. Of all the things he had expected her to say, this was not one of them. He thought about it for a moment and then looked back to her face. She looked upset, tired and a little depressed. "I thought you wanted kids." He said eventually.

"I did. Do. I don't even know for sure yet and he's freaking out." She gave a short bitter laugh. "He loves me, but he's sure as hell not acting like it."

"He told you that?" Wilson looked up sharply in surprise.

Cuddy tilted her head at him. "Yes." She said it slowly. "What should I do?"

Wilson thought for a moment. He was torn here. His two friends had finally gotten together and were on the verge of tearing each other apart. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he realised that it was indeed his fault. "Get the test, find out the results and…kick House's ass until he admits how much you mean to him."

She smiled at that, even though she didn't really feel like it, and rested her chin on her hand. "We're so lucky to have a friend like you." She said dryly.

"I know you are. I am the sticky stuff that holds you both together."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "No comment."

Wilson grimaced. "Eew." He stood abruptly. "I think that would be my cue to leave." He reached out and her fingers met his as he gripped her hand lightly in a comforting gesture. "Remember, he likes it when you yell at him. He wouldn't piss you off so much if he didn't."

She laughed shortly and squeezed his hand back. "Thanks, Wilson. It felt good to talk to a regular person for a while."

Wilson smiled and nodded to her once before stalking out of the office again. Time to go and meddle now with House.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy stood by the clinic nurse's station and pretended to work. She had just done the test, herself, three times…now all she had to do was figure out how to tell him and take care of the backlash. She had been avoiding him for the better part of the day, and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to come down and see her either. So, perhaps she could put it off until tonight but she knew if she saw him she'd have to tell him. All he had to do was behave himself until the end of the day and she wouldn't have to speak to him. It may have been cowardly but she didn't really care at the moment.

"Dr Cuddy."

She looked up dragging her eyes away from the chart that she'd almost started on. Brenda held a phone away from her ear and smiled slightly like…like she was about to tell her boss that her favourite diagnostician had insulted another patient and/or family member. Cuddy's shoulders sagged.

"What's he done now?"

"Said something rather uncomplimentary about his latest patient's husband. The guy's pretty big and they're on the verge of blows, apparently." Brenda informed her tiredly.

Cuddy frowned. Couldn't he just brood like any other man? "Tell them I'll be right there." She sighed and slapped her folder shut, heading for the elevators. The ride to the third floor was short and the muzak as painful as it usually was. She strode out into the corridor as the doors hissed open and found herself immediately in the eye of the storm.

She arched her eyebrows at the scene before her. The guy, whoever he was, presumably the husband, standing practically chest to chest with House and yelling at him. House didn't look interested in the slightest.

"You saying this is my fault?" He yelled at House.

The taller doctor pretended to think. "Lemme think, _you_ have an affair, _you_ pick up some nasty bug and _you_ give it to your wife. Yeah, I think this is _your_ fault, you _moron_." He snapped and turned away. He stopped when he saw Cuddy standing there with her arms folded over her chest. Anger flared in her eyes. He looked at her a long moment and then spun to limp away.

'House!'

He half turned to her glaring. 'What?' He demanded, he already knew but he guessed he wanted her to shout at him. She didn't oblige him, she stepped closer to him so that there were scant inches separating them. She pointed behind herself to the stricken patient's husband and spoke between clenched teeth. Emerald sparks flying in her aquamarine eyes. They stood by the elevators, House jabbing the button with his cane in the vain hope of a quick escape. The stairwell was cavernous next to them and her voice echoed louder than she was speaking throughout it.

'Apologise to him!' She hissed low and angry at him. 'He didn't deserve that.'

House shrugged, forcing himself not to care. So what? So she didn't think the guy deserved it. House knew better, the man had cheated on his wife and now she was in a coma because he had been too stupid to own up to not being able to keep his pants zipped.

'And I didn't deserve having my leg crippled but are you going to apologise?' He asked her archly and regretted it immediately. She reeled backwards as if slapped and he cursed himself silently. She recovered remarkably quickly, pushing the hurt in her eyes down and sweeping it away. He realised in a flash that it was him that had taught her how to do that, how to just sweep things away and not think about them until later. When they could both lick their wounds in solitude and peace. He was right, he didn't deserve to have her, the sooner she realised that, the better for them both.

'That's totally different.' She snapped at him and House snorted.

'Six and half a dozen.' He said quietly and moved around her to walk past the man, maybe he'd give a gloating smirk as he walked past him. 'I'm still crippled and you're still not sorry.' He turned just in time to see the guy move, his face twisted by grief and anger. House had been struck by enough people to recognise the way the muscles bunched in the arm, the shift of the weight and the flare of mayhem in the tear clouded gaze.

House even rolled his eyes as he sidestepped the blow easily.

He had forgotten about Cuddy though. She was standing right behind him, turning to follow him. To chase after him and get what she wanted as she so often did. He realised his mistake almost as soon as he took the step to the side.

The guy powered past him, fist swinging downward like a hammer as House reached out with his own arm to stop him, shove Lisa out the way, do anything except for let her be hurt.

She didn't make a sound as he struck her. The guy hit her hard enough to cause her head to snap to the side with a sharp unhealthy movement. Someone shouted and House was almost surprised at the scratch the bellow made leaving his throat. He lunged, trying to catch her as she fell, his leg forgotten. She staggered to the side and might have righted herself if her heel hadn't caught on the top stair. Her nails scraped and one snapped on the wall as she grappled for a hold on nothing.

House heard the crack as her shoulder hit the stairs. She tumbled down end over end until she skidded to a halt on the landing half a dozen steps down. Blood trickled from the wound on her head and her eyes were shut.

She didn't move.

House rounded on the guy, rage evident in every line of his body. The other man looked as horrified as House was angry.

'I didn't mean…'

He didn't finish the sentence as House's cane lashed out viciously and slapped hard across the man's face. His jaw shattered in a spurt of crimson blood as his teeth clashed down on his tongue. House dropped his cane and was halfway down the stairs, the pain in his leg not even registering through the hammering of adrenaline in his veins as he crouched at her side.

'Cuddy.' His voice was rough as he gently cradled her head between his hands, it seemed to hit him all at once how beautiful he thought she was. His fingers went to her throat and he released a shaky gust of breath as he realised she was still alive. Her pulse was thready and racing, but it was there. 'Lisa.' He stroked her hair out of her face with trembling fingers. 'Come on, wake up for me.' He said gently and twisted over his shoulder to shout for a gurney, why were they all just standing there staring? Eventually people moved but House had already turned back to her, holding her head on his lap and willing her to wake up. 'Come on, open those big blue eyes and insult me.' He begged her.

She groaned, a pained sound, and her eyes fluttered open to stare up at him. For a moment, she was unfocused and then she stiffened, blinking rapidly as pain focused her sight. 'Greg!' She gasped as she scrabbled for his hand. He linked his fingers through hers and held onto her tightly. She mouthed something and he leant closer to hear. 'Hurts.' She lifted her other hand to her head as if to examine the wound and he stopped her gently.

'Leave it, they're coming with a gurney.' He told her and held her still with gentle hands. 'You're going to be alright.' He didn't know if he was trying to convince her or himself but he said it anyway.

"Greg, you should know…" She blinked rapidly as if trying to clear her head.

He leant closer. "Don't talk, it's alright." He stroked her hair out of her eyes.

"No…" She smiled painfully and reached up to touch his face. Her fingers were warm there and he just held her as her breath caught. "You're going to be a daddy…" Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped in his arms.


	18. Chapter 18

**Yes, I know I'm a horrible person for ending 'Family Secret' but yer getting a sequel so pipe down! **

**Meh, there.**

**Uuuuummm…review replies! **

**Memka: 16 chapters in one day, now that's dedication. So glad you like. Now here we are with the next instalment. **

**Houseaddiction: hehehe I can totally see that happening to me with the in trouble-ness. I used to anything BUT homework whenever I could. In fact…I don't think I ever actually did any homework…ah well. (shrugs).**

**Csi7: Yeah, he shouldn't have taunted the husband but this is House we're talking about and I don't really do the irony, though it might be fun to do an ironic fic…heheheh (evil thoughts). **

**Gabiroba: Um, yes, I see what you mean about the tone of the story evolving, I think because it started as them fighting and – ahem – screwing each other senseless (see how I made myself more polite there…marginally anyway) and then it became sort of more emotional when they got back home. That's mebbe what it is. **

**To ADAsakura and Huddyaddicted: Yes.**

**Prinnie: uh-huh, mood swings, I get it. All this shouting about withdrawal and not updating and leaving certain peoples hanging over what's going to happen next in a certain fiction (cough Enigma cough). I wonder where I could have possibly gotten that inspiration from? (narrows eyes at you). **

**I see that Tawny still hasn't managed to get a hold of Spam in your fic. Mind you, she had a really big gun the last time I saw her and Spam wasn't in your last chapter…oh dear. **

**I think Spam sleeps with the fishes. **

**(snert) **

**(Controls self, but only barely)**

**Mwaha**

**Huddytheultimate: Illegal eh? Good to know. **

**Roguebutterfly: I've never seen 'Gone With the Wind' spo I wouldn't know about that, but no, I'm not that heartless. Come on peeps, how could you think that? I'm far too fluffy for that kind of homicide. **

**Jackie C2: all the heavy rap metal has been confiscated, I'm not allowed to listen anymore as my brother stole it and squirreled the damn CDs away so I can't find them and I am NOT camping in his room to write. I'd never escape alive. The reason I had her yell at Wilson is because he annoyed me in the last episode of House I watched. Lying to House…tsk and then getting Cuddy to lie to House too…THIS IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO THE HUDDY OH CULTURELESS CRETINS OF TELLY WRITING!!!!!!!!!!**

**Pant, wheeze, I'm done. **

**And I hereby order EVERYONE to send healing thoughts to Kris the fanficaholic because she's not feeling well (internal bleeding ACK! Way to worry me, honey). So just WAFT those nice thoughts her way. Yeah, you heard, waft. **

**Okay, enough, read and review me. **

**Chapter 18: Waiting's the Hardest Part**

House sat by her bed, leaning heavily on his cane and watching her as she lay there. She was so still. Like a wax doll or something. He was used to seeing her move, every line of her body alive with tension and momentum and now she just…lay there like she could have been carved from marble. Even now, covered in a loose fitting hospital gown, an oxygen tube at her nose and across her face, the ugly bloom of a multicoloured bruise high on her cheek and right down one side of her jaw, even through all that she still looked gorgeous to him. His eyes never strayed from her as he cupped his hands over the top of his cane and rested his chin there. He just sat there and willed her to wake up.

She had fallen, dislocating her shoulder on the stairs and hitting her head hard on another step. The wound had caused slight swelling in her brain and was keeping her unconscious. She should wake up when the swelling went down…if it went down. His knuckles tightened to a bone white shade over his cane. He knew it should go down. There was no reason for her not to recover, the cool medical detached part of his brain realised that but there was a larger part of him that was screaming at her to open her eyes right this minute and look at him. He felt like life wouldn't be worth living if she never woke up. His shoulders tightened at the treachery of his own thoughts. He hadn't even admitted how much she meant to him in the sanctity of his own head. He didn't just love her…he needed her.

His head came up and he looked around as Cameron hesitantly pushed into the private room. She bit her lip as she looked at him and then uncertainly at Lisa's unconscious form on the bed.

"Any change?" She eventually asked. Stuffing her hands into her pockets and trying to look casual about the whole thing.

He shook his head mutely and couldn't even bring himself to think of something caustic to say to her. His shoulders tightened as he turned back to look at her. "The abdominal scans?" He finally asked heavily.

"They're clean, no sign of trauma." Cameron informed him hurriedly.

He nodded even as his shoulders sagged under the weight of relief that swamped him at that small piece of information.

Cameron stood there a few more hesitant moments. "Do you…?"

"Coffee." He said abruptly and dragged his eyes away from his lover long enough to look at Cameron. "I'd like some coffee." He was quiet a beat. "Please." He said and then turned back and rested his chin over his hands again.

Cameron watched him a moment and then turned and walked out the door. She jolted slightly as somebody caught her arm and turned her around. It was Wilson. She forced a smile as she looked up at the older oncologist.

"How is he?" He asked quietly and took her arms to lead her further along the corridor.

Cameron was silent a long moment as she tried to think of a word that would best describe her boss's mood. "Polite." She eventually settled on.

Wilson stopped in his tracks and looked down at her. "What?"

"He should have been rude. He should have said something sarcastic to get rid of me, but he didn't. He asked for coffee. Not demanded. Asked. He even said 'please'." Cameron shoved her hands back into her lab coat's pockets as she marvelled over this telling piece of information.

Wilson tilted his head at this information and puffed out a breath. "Well, that's worrying."

Cameron nodded. "Tell me about it. She'd better come around soon. He doesn't look like he's moving any time soon." She turned and walked down the hall, to find some coffee.

Wilson turned and looked back towards the shut blinds of the dean's room. He saw all the staff that passed it, slide worried looks in that direction. The hospital seemed quieter without the powerful presence of Lisa Cuddy there. Everybody noticed it, even the patients were subdued more than usual.

She had _better_ wake up soon, Wilson thought, he missed her too.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy winced as bright light needled her back to consciousness. She made a small pained sound and turned her head away before carefully opening her eyes. The sights, smells and sounds of her hospital drifted back to her as she regained wakefulness. She was in a patient's room, not in her office. It was dark outside and the light came from a lamp over her head.

What had happened?

Cuddy frowned as a jumble of memories tumbled to the fore of her mind. She lifted her hand and grimaced as she saw a tube sticking out the back of it and pain radiated in a dull throb from her shoulder. Felt like she'd dislocated it. Her left shoulder was prone to that after a childhood accident. She lifted her arm through the pain and explored her face with her fingers. Her jaw felt tender and mildly swollen and there was a bandage on her temple. The itch of healing skin emanated from under it and she resisted the urge to claw the damn thing off. Her mother was right, doctors made the worst patients.

The man, he had hit her and…she had fallen down the stairs.

Cuddy tried to lift her other hand and frowned when she couldn't. She turned and her eyes widened as she saw a familiar dark head resting against her hip on the bed. Greg was hunched over the bed, the railing down on that side, her hand engulfed in his larger one. She tilted her head and examined him. If at all possible, he seemed thinner than usual, dark circles bruised his eyes, his hair was tousled as if he had repeatedly run his fingers through it and his growth of beard was several days long. She wondered how long she had been out.

"Hey."

Cuddy turned and winced at the sudden movement. She leant back more fully against the pillows and smiled at her friend as he rose from his seat and crossed the room to her other side.

"Hey, Wilson." Her voice croaked slightly from lack of use but overall, she thought she sounded alright. "How long have I…?" She gestured with her free hand to the bed.

"About three days. You had us worried for a while there." He too looked on the wrong side of exhausted. He jerked his less than perfectly styled head at House's sleeping form. "Him more than most, though he'll probably deny it when he wakes up. He hasn't left your side the whole time."

Cuddy looked around the fairly cluttered state of the room and smiled wryly. "Looks like it." A warmth bloomed in her chest at his actions though.

"Do you remember what happened?" Wilson asked quietly as Cuddy reached over herself and smoothed Greg's hair affectionately. Wilson was slightly thrown at the familiar action but he managed not to show it too much.

"His patient hit me by mistake. I fell down the stairs and…" She trailed off and went very still. Her hand left Greg's hair and went to her belly she turned to Wilson, the worried question already on her lips.

"You're both fine. House did a CT scan of your abdomen and there was no trauma whatsoever. Looks like you're already overprotective of junior in there." Wilson laid a comforting hand on her arm and made sure not to jolt the tender joint.

A small smile curled her lips. Then she sobered slightly. "What happened to the man that hit me?"

Wilson stuffed his hands in his pockets. "House broke his jaw when he backhanded him with his cane." Wilson shrugged and a slight edge entered his voice. "I reset it, though I somehow managed to forget any painkillers." He tried to look as if this had been a genuine accident but Cuddy saw right through him. She smirked at the actions of her 'boys'. She looked down again when House made a small sound in his sleep.

"You'd better go." Cuddy told Wilson quietly. "He's waking up."

"How do you know?" Wilson asked her. She turned and levelled a look at him. He held up his hands in surrender. "Of course, going now." Wilson left the room and Cuddy turned back in time to see Greg open his eyes and blink, momentarily unsure of where he was. He bolted upright and scrubbed a hand over his face, not immediately realising that she was watching him.

She squeezed his hand.

He dropped his eyes and then looked back up in a flash to meet hers. She smiled at him.

"You're awake." He said a little dumbly and shook the rest of fatigue off of him like snow off a coat. He stood and leant over her, taking her chin in his fingers and pulling a pen light from somewhere, checking her reflexes as he peppered her with questions.

"How do you feel? Any dizziness? Nausea? Tingling in your limbs? What was the last thing you remember?" He stopped abruptly as her fingers lifted and rested over his lips. She pursed her lips and then scraped her nails against his beard.

"You need a shave." She told him and then leant closer to sniff. She wrinkled her nose. "And a shower." She laughed at him and stopped when he sat on the edge of her bed and cupped her face between his hands.

"Under no circumstances are you to _ever_ do that to me again." He told her and looked her right in the eye, deadly serious. Her hand rested against his chest and she smiled at him again, this time in agreement.

"Okay, from now on, linebacker patients can hit you."

He sidled up closer to her and pulled her into his arms, dropping a kiss on her lips. "Wouldn't have it any other way." He sniffed in mock disdain and smirked when the heart monitor registered the leap in her heart rate at the contact between them.

"You really need a shower."

"You aren't exactly smelling of roses yourself. I know, we can go together." He said brightly and levered himself off the bed and away from her. She frowned at the distance between them.

"Together?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter." He pretended to scold her. She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to wash your back, nothing more." He limped over with wheelchair and unfolded it for her.

"I don't need a chair." She told him as she threw back her covers and hopped down on to the floor. Her knees promptly buckled from under her and he caught her with a knowing look. "Maybe I was wrong." She murmured as he lowered her gently into the chair and made sure that she wasn't about to catch on anything by removing her drip. She wouldn't need it anymore. He left his cane where it was and leant on the chair instead as he steered her out into the quiet corridors of PPTH, it must have been a shift change because there wasn't even an orderly to record their journey from her room to the showers.

By the time they reached the showers, Cuddy was feeling up to trying to walk again. As Greg switched on one of the hot sprays with a hiss of water. She carefully lifted herself from the chair and took a few experimental steps. He jumped when her arms slid around his waist. He turned and wrapped an arm around her with a grin and a scowl simultaneously.

"Hey, you could have fallen." He scolded her and his hand slid around to splay his long fingers over her belly. "It's not just you we've got to worry about now, y'know."

She stilled and her eyes flew to his. "We?"

He shrugged and looked away from her momentarily. "I've had nothing but time the last few days, and I spent most of it thinking about you…about us."

"And?" She prodded him when it looked like that might be all the revelations she was getting tonight. "I figure, if you can keep me on the fairly straight and narrow at work, you can do it at home too." He was silent a moment further. "I'm willing to try if you're still going to let me."

A single tear slid down her cheek as she smiled up at him with that thousand watt smile. He loved that smile, just like he loved the rest of her. He grinned back and then decided to distract himself from such pathetically warm and fuzzy thoughts by tugging at the neckline of her gown. She arched a brow at him.

"What? You'll get cold if you don't get under the water soon." He reasoned and he smirked and tugged his tee shirt up over his head in answer. He pushed her under the water as he finished removing the rest of his own clothes and then followed her inside. He swirled the curtain shut behind them and they were cocooned inside a small pocket of warm rain and green light as the strip lighting filtered through the shower curtain.

They washed each other clean with teasing fingers and lingering kisses, though he didn't let her take it any further than that, no matter how heated her caresses might get. It was a matter of principle and he was damn well going to be the sensible one…for this one time at least. She pouted at him for it, but let it drop when she realised exactly how tired she was.

Once the shower was finished and he had commandeered some scrubs for them both to wear and steered her back into her chair, dawn was breaking over the topmost floors of Princeton-Plainsboro. She felt…alright. Not a hundred percent physically, as one might expect after diving headfirst down a stairwell, but knowing that he wasn't going anywhere did go a long way to making her feel a whole lot better.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The next morning, Brenda, head nurse of the infamous PPTH clinic, carefully opened the door to Dr Cuddy's room and prepared herself for the gauntlet of Dr House watching over her like an extremely scruffy and dangerous raptor. Brenda stood in the doorway and waited.

No cutting remarks emerged.

Cautiously, she poked her head into the room and looked around. Her jaw dropped and then folded shut into a massive Cheshire cat grin. She backed out of the room and motioned for Alice, one of the nurses stationed on this floor.

"Come and see this!" She whispered and tugged the younger, reluctant, nurse into the room.

Alice gaped.

Dr Gregory House, thorn in the side of the dean and the hospital in general, was flat out on aforementioned Dean's bed, his long legs tangled in hers, her head resting on his chest and her dark hair spilling about her face and across his body like a banner. They were both fast asleep.

"Isn't that just the most romantic thing you've ever seen?" Alice breathed, misting up and waving at her eyes to stop the tears falling.

"Screw romantic." Brenda snorted. "Get me a damn camera, do you have any idea how many clinic hours a photo of this is worth?"


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, here we are with another chapter that's so fluffy I might as well have stapled baby rabbits to it. **

**(But I can't because the RSPCA frowns on that sort of thing for some reason) **

**uum, at the risk of ranting (narrows eyes at Prinnie) I will only ask you that read and review me. **

**harrumph. **

**Chapter 19: Bedside Manner**

Cuddy poked her head out of her room and grinned. Yahoo, shift change. She sidled out of her room and shuffled along the corridor as quickly as she could. Nobody paid her any mind as she blended in with the crowd of nurses in her stolen pink hospital scrubs. Her hair tied back in an unnoticeable tail that trailed in a dark tumble down her back. She snatched a nearby clipboard and dipped her head to it, ignoring everyone and being ignored in return as her slippered feet moved silently over the linoleum floors.

She made it unmolested to the elevator and slipped into the back of it, behind a patient wheezing in an oxygen mask and pushed by one of the larger orderlies. She was actually quite surprised that no one had recognised her yet. She had thought that her face would be pretty much imprinted on everyone's memory but then, her gaze caught on her blurry reflection on the elevator door. She didn't usually look this thin, or have her face this bare of make up (barely even lipgloss!), or go around in scrubs or…pretend she was a nurse.

But goddamnit!

She had been stuck in that room for the better part of a week and she was going stir crazy!

So, being of type A personality, she had taken matters into her own hands and set up this classified mission to get herself back to her office. If she couldn't go home she might as well work. Her arm was sore but she could still sign a freaking form.

Exiting the elevator at clinic, Cuddy kept her head down and headed right for her office. Past Brenda, who seemed to be deep in conversation with a man about a nail stuck in his ear, the nurses station, clinic and even the ever flirting Wilson who, technically, should have been doing her job and not chatting up that new nurse. She decided to let that slide if she succeeded in getting back to work and preventing her brain leaking out her ears due to chronic boredom. She slipped through the doors without so much as a glance from her supposed assistant and mosied right up to her desk, sinking into her chair with a happy sigh. She flipped the switch on her computer and settled down to do some work.

Nearly an hour went by before she was interrupted.

"There you are!"

Cuddy looked up from her papers with a blink and frowned at Alison Cameron, who had just burst in through the doors and was breathing as if she had been running hard.

"Your powers of observation are astounding." Cuddy answered dryly.

"Been looking…everywhere…for you." Cameron bent forward and rested her hands on her knees, still breathing hard. Cuddy frowned.

"You want to sit down, Cameron? You'll make a mess of my floor if you collapse." Cuddy turned back to her documents, signed a few more and then shuffled them away into the correct files. Cameron sank down into the chair opposite her and stared at her still-technically-boss-of-her-boss incredulously.

"You've been working down here the whole time?"

Cuddy nodded and hummed absently and made a note on the contract in front of her to be sent back down to legal. "House sent you?"

"Uh, yeah, along with a few other nurses he was…worried about you."

Cuddy snorted and looked up at Cameron with a laugh only to have it slip from her face at the younger woman's expression. "Oh, you're not joking."

Cameron shook her head.

Cuddy picked up the phone and dialled a number off by heart…then a few more numbers. She set the phone down and returned to her documents. She stilled mid-signature as she felt the heavy weight of Cameron's gaze on her. She looked up and propped her chin on her hand. "Something on your mind, Cameron?"

Cameron appeared to realise what she was doing and started to shake her head rapidly. "No, I, uh…"

"Spit it out, Cameron." Cuddy ordered in a no nonsense tone and Cameron squirmed a little.

"I've never seen him like that before." Cameron finally said quietly. "He was actually concerned about another human being…it was kind of disconcerting, actually."

Cuddy tilted her head at Cameron and pushed her habitual annoyance at the younger woman away. Another woman might have been threatened by the younger, thinner woman across from her but Cuddy felt no such insecurity. Cameron was idealistic and so incredibly young at times that it was easy to be judgemental and irritated with the younger woman but Cuddy was learning to get her head around that. She sat back in her chair and folded her hands together over her stomach as she thought about how to teach Cameron a little something about her boss.

"Believe it or not, Greg…House, cares a lot more about his patients than he lets on. At least, some of them, anyway. He's an ass towards people because he wants to keep them at a distance, because, if they're far enough away, they can't see how he's thinking."

Cameron frowned slightly. "I don't understand."

Cuddy shrugged and then winced at the movement. She decided not to do that again for a few more days. "If you're standing right in front of House and looking him in the eye then you can see everything he's feeling. You've just got to be brave enough to take whatever storm he can throw at you."

Cameron looked down at her fidgeting fingers for a moment and then back up to Cuddy. "Don't you get tired standing in the rain?"

Cuddy thought for a moment, remembering all of the things that had happened between Greg and herself in the rain. A smile tugged at her lips and she looked back at Cameron. She shook her head slightly. "It's worth it."

Cameron smiled at that and suddenly found herself understanding a little bit more about why House and Cuddy fit so well together. The door bursting open broke the moment a little. House limped in and glared down at Cameron.

"Some search dog you are. You're supposed to howl when you find something." He scolded her and Cameron smirked as she rose to her feet.

"Aroo." She muttered, smiled at Cuddy and then left the office.

House watched the exchange and then whirled on his lover. "What was that?"

"I believe she howled." Cuddy said as blandly as she could, working to keep the smirk from her lips.

"I meant that…female moment. Are you bonding with my staff?" He accused her even as he let his eyes rove over her and check for any suspicious signs of discomfort or pain from her. He had walked into her room earlier, comfortable in the notion that she would be bored out of her mind but waiting for him, only to have it shattered upon finding an empty bed and no clue as to where she had gone. In retrospect, it was fairly obvious that she would come here and start work. She had been making noises about doing exactly that the previous day but still…it had scared him.

"What's the matter? Afraid I might have few more spies at my command?" She arched a brow at him on a grin, completely unaware that she had shaved ten years from his life with her wandering off stunt.

"No…you know it's really hard to do that whole bedside manner thing that you're always on about if you're not actually there to practice on." He scowled at her and sat on the edge of her desk. She looked adorable in those scrubs. He looked up at her as the thought entered his head and laced his fingers through hers. "Do you know what 'adorable' means?"

She shrugged her good shoulder, wondering where he was going with this. "Sure, it means 'cute'."

He shook his head slowly. "Nope. To be 'adorable' is to be very attractive, charming and loveable. To 'adore' someone is to love them intensely or deeply." He was quiet a moment and she smiled in understanding. He thought she was adorable. He just wasn't going to say it to her. He broke the moment by looking at her with an assessing glare and pulling her up to her feet. "Stand up. I want to check this shoulder." He had noticed the way she favoured it slightly.

"I'm fine." She protested as his hands slid under the hem and then the neckline of her scrubs and his warm fingers devoid of a doctor's usual latex gloves slid over her skin. Her heart rate leaped into a gallop and she cleared her throat, her eyes meeting his, a sudden thought occurred to her. "In fact, I feel very much better."

"Hmm." He muttered, for once in his life being all business, it was really rather frustrating. She barely even winced when his careful fingers found that tender spot right around the joint. She stepped a little closer to him, her legs brushing his as her hand came down on his good leg. He stilled and looked up at her, their faces a mere inch apart. Sudden understanding flared in his eyes. "Better?"

She nodded and leant closer still, the scent that was purely her wrapping around his senses and coating them in a hazy blanket of extremely unprofessional thoughts. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist and his hand spanned the back of her tender shoulder, his other arm was folded across her collar bone and his fingers explored the mottling bruises on her tanned skin. He slid his hand out from the neckline of her shirt and dropped it to the relatively safer territory of her hip. "Discharge me and let's go home." She whispered in his ear before her teeth gripped it in a sharply erotic tug that nearly had his toes curling. His fingers flexed against the warm bare skin of her back.

"It's only been a week…" He trailed off as her lips trailed down the line of his carotid and she lapped at the pulse in the hollow of his throat.

"A week without you in my bed, a week without waking up to you, a week without you over me, under me, inside me…" Her voice trailed off on a husky purr as she rubbed herself against him and he found himself responding despite his resolve to keep her in for at least ten days. "If I were anyone else you would have let me go at least three days ago." She pouted at him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she looked into his eyes. A grin tilted her mouth. "Besides, if I even feel a little unwell I'll have one of the best doctors there is right there in hand to help me."

"In hand?"

She frowned. "On hand. Slip of the tongue." Okay, House knew that there was no way that a simple phrase like that should sound so damn intriguing but when you had two hands full and then some of one of the more gorgeous women on the planet, _root canals_ began to sound suggestive.

"You want to go home?" He asked her.

"I want to go to bed…with you." She clarified in case he was having any doubts on the matter. He grinned and decided it wouldn't kill him to relent.

He sighed. "Alright, I'll fill out the paper work."

"I'll get my things." She declared and kissed him hard on the mouth before slipping from his arms. He frowned, suddenly feeling very much manipulated. He watched her slip out the room and gather a few stares from several nurses as she sauntered past them with a very triumphant grin on her lips. All eyes turned back to her office door as he exited it. He walked to the nurse's station and asked for Dr Cuddy's file for discharging. Brenda supplied it with a barely repressed grin.

"Nice lipstick there, Dr House." She said as innocently as someone rapidly turning red from suppressed mirth can.

House scrubbed a hand over his mouth and then snarled at her. He looked up again when a tissue appeared under his nose.

"You might want to clean it off your ear as well." She offered helpfully.

House could only scowl.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Ah, I might have known this was the real reason you wanted to come home." House grumped as he fidgeted with her hair. She was sprawled across her couch, lying between his legs, a bowl of chips balanced on her lap and her head resting against his chest. wearing nothing but his shirt was a good look for her, he decided. She twisted to look up at him with an innocent expression.

"The fact that season seven of _CSI_ is starting tonight, of all nights, is purely coincidental." She informed him and crunched a salsa laden chip. "Pass me the hot sauce please." She asked him and flung her arm up to take it from him as he reached for it, nearly doing him some damage in the process.

"You sure you want all of that on those chips?" He asked her as she upended the bottle over her hoard of salty snacks.

"Yes, I can't get them hot enough." She affirmed and crunched more chips. She was silent as they watched a three month old corpse be dragged from a pool of water and examined in all its bloated glory. House grimaced, he was a doctor but, jeez, he worked with the living thank you very much. All these, accurate, special effects creeped him out a little sometimes. Lisa, being a seven season veteran of the show, didn't even blink as one of the investigators laboriously scraped gummy body fat from a jacket label in order to uncover the wearers name beneath all the gunk. Instead, she searched for a chip that wasn't slathered in hot sauce completely and held it up to his lips.

He took it with a flip of his tongue and a crunch from his teeth. She went back to her digging for another one for him as he frowned at the inconsistencies of the show.

"You know, CSIs don't actually handle the interrogation part of the case, in fact, once they have the evidence, they pass it on to the cops and they do all the legwork. Shouldn't they be wearing those plastic body suits so they don't contaminate the scene as well?" He trailed off when he looked down at Lisa to see her glaring at him.

"Greg, stop being such a man."

He blinked at that. "You weren't complaining earlier." He wasn't quite sure if he should be insulted or not.

"It's not real. It's fantasy. I don't care, I don't watch it for the realism I watch it for the characters, for their stories and for the mystery, okay?" She turned back to the show. "And for the fact that Grissom and Sara finally got together." She said cheerfully and crunched another chip.

House had watched the show occasionally, but had never really bothered to learn the character's names.

"Grissom's the old dude, right?"

She smirked. "Uh-huh, their exalted leader."

"And that's Sara?" Greg pointed to the screen as a thin woman walked onto the screen with a sassy smile and a mass of strawberry blonde hair. Lisa shook her head.

"That's Catherine, she and Warwick sort of had a thing that might of happened but then he got married to some off screen character."

"Oh." Greg said and a coltish woman with dark hair and an almost sombre air walked on screen to offer a case breaking bit of evidence.

"That's Sara."

"The workaholic one?"

"That's the one. She's had a thing for Grissom for…ever. She studied under him in San Francisco and he called her in as his prodigal student to investigate Warwick at the first episode of the first series. He'd left a rookie and she ended up getting shot. Anyway, they've had a sort of will-they-won't-they thing going on for the past five years. Grissom was an idiot and pushed her away because he thought he was too old or he shouldn't because of their work or some other completely insignificant reason and then, for reasons that have not yet been explained, they got together at the end of season six." Lisa finished by flipping a chip into her mouth and crunching happily. Her eyes had never left the screen and she had done that female multitasking thing so she still knew what was going on in the show.

Greg propped himself up on an elbow with a grin and looked down at her. She was still absorbed so didn't turn to him.

"Pushed her away because of work or some other completely idiotic reason?" He quoted back to her. "Gee, that doesn't sound familiar." He said casually and she turned to him with an arched brow.

"I don't believe I said 'idiotic' but the important thing is that he learned to make the right choice in the end, isn't it?" She said a little edge in her voice and he smirked and wrapped his arms back around her.

"Whatever you say fangirl." He agreed with her.

She huffed slightly and ate some more chips, lapping sauce from her fingers with hypnotic movements. "I do say so, you cultureless cretin." She said as the show's credits rolled.

"Cretin, am I?"

"Don't forget cultureless." She supplied cheerfully and set the bowl of chips down on the coffee table, finally having sated her hunger for them.

"I'm not the one who doesn't watch the _OC._" He pointed out as his hands came to rest over her belly. He laced his fingers together and tipped his chin against her hair. Her hands folded over his in response and she turned her head so that her cheek could rest against the wall of his chest. His heartbeat thudded strong and sure under her ear.

"A bunch of thirty year olds playing teenagers with insignificant problems, spare me." She listened to the thump of his heart for a few more beats. "Like _Dawson's Creek _but with higher annual earnings for the characters." Her distaste was evident in her tone and his chuckle rumbled through her from the depths of his chest. He was quiet a moment after his laughter.

"Why do you think they eventually got together?" He asked her.

"Grissom and Sara?"

"Uh-huh. You said it hasn't been explained in the show yet."

She thought about it a minute. Turning over the possibilities in her head, realising that he might not be just asking about the show. "Well, in the show, Sara reveals some vulnerability about her character. She came from a broken home, her mother murdered her abusive father in self defence, I think, and she turned to Grissom for help. That might have been what finally pulled him that last bit towards her."

"But you don't think that was it." It wasn't really a question.

She hummed in a half-agreement with him. "They were already together. Maybe not consciously or intentionally but they always had a part of themselves reserved for the other. They didn't realise it yet but they had no choice but to be together. I guess they just finally realised it."

His hand tangled further in her hair as he cupped her head. She could almost hear him thinking. "Why did you let me have you? That first night in Scotland." He suddenly asked and she was surprised by the honesty of his words. He didn't usually come out with things like that. It was usually in metaphors and half jokes and teasing glances. She turned in his arms and leant up on her elbow as she faced him, much in the same way she had after their first time together. A smile tilted her full mouth and he knew if he kissed her she would taste of woman and fiery spice.

Her fingers brushed some of his hair back from his brow as she prepared to answer him. "You offered me a chance that night. You told me I could have you with no strings and no repercussions and, even though I didn't really believe you, I took that chance, because I thought it was the only piece of you I would ever be able to have. Even if it was only a fraction of what you are, I'd take what I could get."

"You thought all that on that night?" He asked her and she shook her head on a smile.

"No, that night I convinced myself I was just desperate for sex. It wasn't until much later that I realised I just wanted sex with you." She told him and waited for him to get uncomfortable, to brush her words away and smirk at her with a lewd joke to fizzle out the moment. Not because he didn't love her, but because he did and he didn't know how to deal with that properly. He might never know how to deal with that.

He didn't do that though.

His hand lifted and trailed down over the sweep of her cheek. His thumb brushed her lips that still tingled from the burn of the sauce over her chips…or from the feel of his skin against hers, she wasn't exactly sure.

"I don't know when I fell in love with you." He told her and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't realised that he thought about this sort of thing. She should have realised that he thought about everything. "Most people would be able to tell you the exact moment that they realised they loved someone but I…" He shrugged and shook his head with a clueless expression. He'd finally found something he couldn't puzzle out. "Even thinking back to college and you watching me from the back of the stands at the lacrosse games, yeah I saw you up there," he smirked at her. She hadn't known he had seen her there. "Just seems like I always loved you as much as I do now. Strange isn't it?"

Lisa stared at him. She could honestly say that, never in a million years, would she have thought that Gregory House would open up to her like this. She blinked rapidly at the tears that suddenly glazed her eyes and put a hand to her mouth. This was the first time that he had told her, to her face, that he loved her.

Her mouth was suddenly against his and her arms were around his neck as she kissed him with fervent ferocity. He was a little surprised, but recovered quickly as her legs slid over his and she straddled him with a familiar movement. He hummed his approval at this line of thinking and smirked against her lips as his hands slid under the hem of his shirt that she was wearing. Warm silky skin met his hands as the spice on her lips and tongue trailed fire throughout his mouth. She broke away from him gently and rested her forehead against his.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I did tell you before…once." He defended himself.

She arched a brow at him. "Over the phone. By accident." She pointed out.

"You still knew I love you, what's the problem?"

She rolled her eyes. "You are such a _man_ sometimes, you know that?" She laughed down at him.

His hips rolled up against hers. "Yup."

She chuckled and leant down to kiss him again. "Lucky for you I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Yeah, lucky me." He meant every word as his lips met hers again.


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay, kiddies. **

**I am so tired it's unbelievable. I've actually been going to bed along with everybody else that functions on GM time. Usually I operate on something between Tokyo on three weeks last Tuesday and Australia. **

**Anyways, here's another chapter for y'all. I was going to write something plot worthy but then I thought 'ya know what? I fancy writing a mindless smutty scene.' So here we are. **

**Hope you enjoy, barely beta'd so be warned. **

**Read and review me. **

**(BTW, next chapter of 'the Inspirationals' will be from House's perspective) **

**Chapter 20: Arguments of the Body Lingual Kind**

Cuddy grimaced as she swept the dark curtain of her hair aside and perused the rainbow hued bruise high on her cheek and jaw. She touched it with careful fingers and realised it looked a hell of a lot worse than it felt. She heard a noise from her bedroom and stilled momentarily. She listened a few more seconds and then reached slowly up to snap the light off in the bathroom. Morning sunlight filtered in muted tones through her bedroom curtains and spilled over the sprawled sleeping lump on her bed. He was splayed diagonally across the mattress, his bare chest catching little chinks of golden light through her curtains.

She let her eyes trail over him, not only to catalogue his body and the yum factor therein, but to make sure he didn't wake up until she was out of the bedroom. She glanced at the clock and realised that she was actually a few minutes early, no harm in ogling him then. She inched closer and looked down at him, her fingers twitching to brush his hair back from his brow. He actually looked softer, younger, when he slept. His harsh features relaxed a little and he didn't look so nearly as frightening as he could when he was awake. He murmured something and Cuddy tensed before she realised that it wasn't a waking up noise. His strong long fingered hand stretched across the mattress, presumably searching for her. She knew he would wake when he realised she wasn't in bed and she should probably run while she still could. He grumbled again and rubbed his hand over his chest. He shivered slightly.

It was quite cold in the room. Cuddy leant down and gripped the sheet, resolving to pull it up over him and then sashay off to work before he awoke and forbid her from leaving the house…again. She pulled the sheet up and then tip-toed from the room, her high heels dangling from her fingers so as not to click against her floors. She padded through to the kitchen and smiled when she realised the kettle had boiled. She poured herself a mug of tea and resigned herself to not even drinking half of it before he would wake from the smell of it.

The man was even observant in his sleep. It was a little disturbing.

She drank her tea and rolled her shoulder tentatively. A few more days and even that stiffness would be gone and then she would be back to normal…aside from dating a colleague, carrying his child and dealing with the fallout that would entail now that everyone and their aunt at the hospital knew.

Well, normal was a fairly subjective term anyway.

She jumped as strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind and dragged her back against a familiar chest. She groaned and let her head fall back against his shoulder with a huff of defeat from between pouting lips.

Foiled again.

She opened her eyes to see him grinning down at her.

"What woke you?"

"You shouldn't have pulled the sheet up over me. Now, be a good little administrator and get your ass back in bed. You're supposed to be resting." He accused her and she got a mulish expression on her face.

"I'm not arguing with you about this. I need to go to work."

"No you don't." He countered. "And we argue about everything."

"Only because you never do as you're told." She snarked and he arched a brow.

"You'd hate it if I did as I was told. Where would the challenge be then?" She glared at him over her shoulder. "If you're that bothered you can lead by example." He smiled and dropped his hand to pat her ass in as patronising a manner as he could manage when battling with a hard on that must have been rather obvious to her considering how he was holding her. "Back to bed?" He asked her sweetly one last time.

Her stubborn expression intensified with a glare. "Forget it, this is not a discussion."

"No, it's an argument." He glared right back at her. "Doctor's orders." He told her emphatically and she snorted.

"You ignore good medical advice every day."

He nodded. "And I'm a crippled drug addict." He pointed out and she glared through the flare of concern that always accompanied any reference to his vicodin dependency. It wouldn't do to show any weakness. She tried to wriggle around to face him, but he tilted their bodies forward and her pelvis was pinned against the worktop by his. She wasn't going anywhere. She twisted and looked over her shoulder at him with a singly arched and disapproving brow.

"Is this any way to treat a pregnant woman?" She demanded and he just grinned down at her, his hands finding their way under her jacket and smoothing over the small of her back in small tantalising circles.

"You're not just a pregnant woman, you know." He told her as he lent forward and buried his face into the loose mass of her hair. He inhaled deeply as if he could live off her scent alone. She shivered at the thought of how completely he always immersed himself in her. Like she was another fix to him.

"Really?" She croaked and willed herself not to respond. She should be disapproving. She should push back and force him away from her, because he would let her go if she did. Lisa pushed back with her hips and any intention of walking out the door before this discussion had reached its natural conclusion clean flew out of her head. The hard length of him ground against her soft curves and she gasped at the sensation.

"Hmm, you're a lover as well." His lips brushed against her ear as he whispered those intoxicating words into her ear. "It's up to you who you want to be this morning." He rumbled seductively and tremors laced her entire body as she tried to think of a solid reason to go to work because there sure as hell was one huge solid reason right behind her to stay. The buttons of her jacket were flicked open with dextrous fingers and her skin tightened over her stomach as he smoothed his palm over her.

"I don't think this is going to be very restful." She murmured even as she arched to him. Damn the man, he knew exactly how to have her melting into a puddle of need for him and he never failed to implement the knowledge for his own gain. She listened with a small smile as he groaned under his breath. Enjoying the contact between them as much as she was. She smirked and arched again, having them both gasping, good thing she was just as capable of making him melt. The counter was cool and smooth beneath her palms as her fingers flexed helplessly against the hard expanse of the worktop. His palms abruptly slid upward over her ribs and he filled his hands with the lush weight of her breasts. His thumbs ruthlessly flicked spiked nipples and she squirmed again. Driving the contact between them higher with every thoughtless twist of her hips against his.

"I promise to do most of the work." He panted to her. The woman had no right to be this attractive. This sexy. This _right. _That was what he felt. When he was with her, whether it was mind blowing sex or a tongue tangling conversation, it felt right to be by her side.

His hands slid down over her body, timing the heave of her chest under his palms, over her belly, her hips and down over her long legs to bunch the material of her skirt in his hands. He levered himself away from her, but only long enough to throw the skirt up over her hips, the dark material pooling in her lower back. He pinned her against the cupboards again with the hard press of his hips to hers and pulled her torso tight against his, allowing him to get his arms completely around her and pull her jacket from her shoulders. He was careful not to twist her tender arm in any painful manner and the soft smile she flipped him over her shoulder told him that she knew that. The jacket thumped to the floor with barely a rustle from the heavy material and he was left with only silk, lace and miles of bare skin.

He smoothed his hands over her. Wondering idly where to start and his eyes fell onto the light bruising that still marred her shoulder. He pressed his lips there first, knowing that it looked worse than it felt. He traced through the myriad of colours that bloomed over her skin, each press of his lips a silent apology for being responsible for the marks. Her hand lifted and traced over his cheek, absolving him of responsibility without a word. They were good at that, wordless communication. Besides, he grinned, it was so much more fun to rely on body language. He let his mouth lead him over the curve of her shoulder, over the edge of her collar bone, that soft secret place in the corner of her neck that never failed to have her shivering for him when he nipped her just like…

Lisa moaned as she shivered for him. Trembling in his strong hands, confidant that he would hold her up even if her knees decided to buckle. His tongue snaked over her skin and her hand trailed over his ear and tangled in his hair. She loved the feel of his short hair sifting through her fingers. She arched her neck, baring more of her throat to his ministrations.

Though most of her attention was taken up by his talented mouth, she was aware of where his hands were going. She felt them drift down over her hips, whisper soft, and slide under the rumpled hem of her hiked up skirt. She felt his grin against her ear and he even chuckled a low deep sound as his finger caught in the thin scrap of material that was her underwear. He pulled away the ribbon of midnight blue lace and let it snap back against her hip. She jolted at the tiny sting and his chuckle intensified into a rumbling laugh of anticipation.

"Take them off." She told him and, for once, he did exactly as he was told, hooking his thumbs in the waistband of her panties and letting his chest slide over her back as he carefully skimmed the nails of his thumbs all the way down her legs in a line of red pleasure. Lisa gasped and gripped the edge of the worktop in an attempt to stay upright. She lifted her feet out of the way for him on autopilot and when next she felt him pressed against her it was with the shock of all his naked skin sliding against hers. The blunt head of his cock was an insistent nudge against her heat and she let her head fall back. A moan torn from between her lips as he buried one hand in her hair and gripped her hip with the other. His bare foot nudged her legs apart a little further and her breathing hitched in glorious anticipation. He dipped his head and his teeth became a hard edge against the soft skin of her neck as he twisted his hips suddenly and sank into her with a hissing pant of effort.

"Oh God…" She moaned, her head would have fallen forward but his fingers tangled in her hair prevented her from letting it. She savaged her lip with her teeth as he stilled deep inside her, just letting her adjust to his sheer size. Another shaft of desire speared her and cracked up her spine as he twisted his hips in a little circle for her. She made strangled sound as he did it again in the opposite direction. He always felt large, because he was, but in this position…she felt the impact of his rolling little thrusts right up to her throat. His lips pulled tight against her skin and she realised he was smiling. She would have glared at him, but he wouldn't let her move that way, so she settled for elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

"Bastard, stop teasing me." She panted at him.

He rolled his hips again and she nearly blacked out from pleasure as it twisted up inside her like a corkscrew to the pleasure centres in her brain. "I thought you wanted to go to work?" He was trying to sound nonchalant and teasing but the hitch in his voice as her inner muscles gripped him was telling. He was on a thin blade of control and he knew it, but she would give in first.

He hoped.

"Fuck me." She demanded on a moan as his hips circled again. It was more of a flexing roll of motion rather than the thrust she craved and he knew it. It was pleasurable and teasing but she needed him to take her as hard as he dared. She wasn't used to getting the diluted version of events and while it was a good warm up what she really wanted was the headlining action.

"Will you stay in bed and rest?" He demanded. Another hip roll and her spine arched as if a current had been passed through her.

"I always fall asleep after a mind blowing orgasm." Her hips twisted back against his. "So, if you give me what I want, you get what you want." She reasoned, though her chest was heaving and her skin shining with the effort it took to at least sound coherent.

"Say you'll stay." He demanded as he lunged his hips a little and she gave a small scream at the feel of his cock thumping hard against the mouth of her womb. Her back arched and her teeth closed on her lower lip once more. God, she loved that feeling. She shivered hard and momentarily lost any conscious thought other than how much she wanted him to do that again. "Say it." He gritted against her and gave her a small inkling of exactly how much of an endurance act this was for him.

She gave in, for both their sakes. "I'll stay off today." She gasped.

"The rest of the week." He bargained and she frowned, catching a hint of their reflection in the kitchen window. A brief thought that the window cleaner was due this week flickered through her mind but was shunted away by another insistent twitch of his cock scraping over her insides.

"Alright!" She writhed in his hold, desperate for him to finish what he had started. "Alright, I won't work until Monday."

"Good." He said to her and braced both his hands on her hips. He pulled her back as he lunged forwards and this time her scream was not so little. His withdrawal had her muscles going slack and she folded over the counter as if suddenly boneless. She could only whimper as his rhythm rocked them both. He wrapped one arm around her waist and kept her in time with him even as pleasure paralysed her with shimmering waves of ecstasy pulsing through her nerve endings. Everything from her hair down was on fire for him.

The orgasm that rocked her was as savage as it was blinding in its intensity. She had a brief thought that she might never walk again as every colour in her vision bled together for a moment of nirvana. He was only a single stroke behind her before he shouted against her shoulder and shivered, spilling himself into her.

She shook as they came down together, floating like two windswept feathers back towards earth. He groaned as his leg decided for him that it didn't like holding them both up, no matter how much the rest of his body enjoyed the experience. They slid down together and she was sprawled sideways on his lap. He wrapped her in his arms to keep her warm. He panted slightly as he stared sightlessly at the ceiling.

"I vote that we have all arguments this way." He said eventually.

She laughed against him. Already sleepy, his ministrations and the pregnancy acting as a better sedative than a lungful or three of nitrous. "I don't think this would be appropriate for topics such as your clinic hours. Brenda would be shocked."

Greg scowled at the memory of what certain head nurses had been blackmailing him with. "Brenda deserves a good shocking." He grumbled. Her chuckle was near silent but he could feel it against his chest. "Besides, I don't see what the big problem is. Everybody knows we're doing the horizontal bump and grind, as certain babies can attest to." He noted as he dropped his head to look down at her and splayed a hand low over her bare stomach.

She lifted her head and arched a brow. "Baby?" She asked incredulously. "What happened to 'the parasite'?"

"Well, that's just mean, kid's not even born yet and you're trying to give it a complex. Not all of us feel inherently guilty about everything you know." He mocked her gently as he rubbed his hand up and down her back because he knew she liked it.

"Not all of us are inherently assholes either." She sniffed but let her head rest against his shoulder enjoying the way he rubbed her back. They sat together that way until he shifted under her slightly. "You okay? Am I too heavy?"

He shook his head and grunted. "Give it a few months."

That earned him a jab in the ribs as she levered herself to her feet. She tottered to the side slightly as it took her balance a moment to get up with the rest of her. She reached down and offered her hand to him. He took it and used it to pull her against him again as he stood with her. A slight frown marred her features as something jabbed her hip. She looked down and her brows flew upward as she saw that he was once more, ready, willing and able to have another 'discussion' with her. Her eyes rose to meet his and she grinned when she saw a slight flush high on his cheeks.

"You were sitting on me." He defended himself and her tongue slid into her cheek as she arched a brow at him. He pursed his lips and looked down at her, she wasn't naked yet. "You tired yet?" He asked her, knowing that she had to be, at least a little. Her dark curls bounced against her bare shoulders as she shook her head with a wicked grin on her lips. She backed out of the kitchen, pulling him with her by the hand as she headed for the dim interior of her bedroom.

"Not tired in the slightest."

"Liar."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Such untruths, what am I going to do with you?"

Silence.

"Lisa?"

"We could argue about it."


	21. Chapter 21

Okay, I'm a bit fuzzed out on which order I'm supposed to be updating here, so I thought I'd update this one since y'all like it so much. This will probably go right through to the birth (I have a funny scene in mind for that) and since I've never actually written one of the many Huddy sprogs that I have created actually coming into the world.

Methinks the next on my list is 'Family Ties' and then 'The Inspirationals' after that one.

BEWARE!!! written in about twenty minutes so probably, mistakes abound.

Just a short one with some snark and some typical House insecurity in there.

Read and review me, you know you wanna.

**Chapter 21: Muh-muh-Marriage?**

House whistled as he tossed his thinky-thinky ball up into the air. He watched it spin round and round before falling back in a graceful arch to his outstretched fingers. _The Who_ played in a riot of sound on his record player and his office was quiet of the team as they were off doing tests for some guy that was bleeding out of his fingernails or something. He hadn't really been paying attention when Cameron had shoved the folder under his nose earlier that morning. The thing that had really caught his eye had been the blue tongue…House let that thought trail away as Wilson sauntered into the office, announcing himself with nothing but a flick of his perfectly styled hair.

"What?" House demanded and threw his ball up and back to himself.

"Where's Cuddy?"

"At home." Throw. Catch. "In bed."

Wilson's brows rose.

"Well, that's where I left her." House shrugged with a small smirk. "She's taking the rest of the week off."

Wilson frowned. "Voluntarily?"

House tilted his head and narrowed his eyes a little. "We argued about it." He shrugged. "I won."

"So…" Wilson shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "What's next for you two?"

House frowned, not quite understanding the question, or pretending he didn't, and planted his feet on his desk, rocking back in his chair to look at Wilson from a new angle. "Lots of hot luvvin' until she gets too heavy?" House said to test the waters and Wilson scowled at him.

"I was thinking more along the lines of marriage." Wilson said casually.

House promptly fell out of his chair.

Wilson crossed the room and bent over House so that the older doctor could see him standing over him. House cleared his throat with as much dignity as he could muster and folded his hands over his chest with his fingers casually laced together.

"I meant to do that." He confirmed and Wilson smirked resting his hands on his knees.

"Then it worked very well."

"Glad you think so. Why would we get muh-mah…" House gestured with his hand. "Why would we do that?"

Wilson would have burst out laughing at the irascible Dr House, the man with an answer to everything, finally reduced to a stammering wreck, but his iron will stopped him short of full fledged guffaws. Somehow he managed to contain himself to a snort of amusement that was swiftly covered with a cough. He held out a hand and helped his friend to his feet while he tried to think of something to say that House wouldn't be able to use to squirm out of this conversation.

"You love her, she loves you…people generally get married to show a level of commitment to one another when they care about each other at that level." Wilson said in his own particularly passive aggressive patronising tone that he reserved especially for these kinds of conversations. However, House and matrimony, with Cuddy no less, was…a first.

"Don't start that…crap." House brushed Wilson away physically as well as verbally and returned to his newly vertical seat. "She doesn't want to marry me." He said with a wry twist to the words and Wilson looked at him as he took the seat opposite his friend.

"Have you asked her?"

"NO!" House inhaled deeply and managed a care free shrug. "I mean, it's the twenty first century, don't women as men now?" He gave Wilson a mocking glare. "Jimmy, this is why all your marriages failed, you weren't politically correct with your wives." He shook an admonishing finger at him and Wilson arched a brow.

"Don't start that crap." He snapped at him and House dropped his hand. Wilson stood, knowing when to leave House to stew in his own juices by now. "One of the reasons Stacy left you is because she thought you didn't want her. Don't make the same mistake with Cuddy."

House looked up on a sharp glare and Wilson was surprised at the ferocity there and in the gritted words that issued from House's throat next.

"Lisa is _not_ Stacy."

"Well, I know that, but do you know that?" Wilson asked him and then turned to the door, swinging out and away before house could even summon a response.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Something was wrong.

She wasn't quite sure what but he had been fine before he went to work and now…

"You okay?" She asked him as her knife slid over the chopping board and neatly diced the chicken there. She scraped it away into the sizzling pan and listened to it buzz as she tossed the knife and the board into the sink before washing her hands vigorously. She only turned to him as she dried her hands on some paper towels. He stood leaning against the doorway, his cane lazily spinning between his fingers as he watched her with half lidded eyes. He inhaled deeply and finally spoke.

"You're not Stacy."

Cuddy blinked, resisted the gigantic 'huh?' that wedged itself in her throat and did a quick brain Google for conversation openers like this.

Search returns no matching documents.

"Are you going to explain that or is this just another mysterious House moment?" She reached over and shook the pan briefly to keep the chicken from burning. She carried on talking in an attempt to cover how shaken she was. Cameron, or any other woman on the planet was no threat to her. Greg was quite firmly hers thank-you-very-much, but Stacy…Stacy was an unknown element. "I mean, I know I'm not Stacy and judging by the name you've been screaming in bed the last couple of months, you know I'm not Stacy so…who's confused?" She turned back to him in time to see him give on of his rare true smiles of actual amusement.

He shrugged. "Wilson told me that you're not Stacy. I think I believe him."

"For which we're both grateful." She said slowly. Still not quite sure where this conversation was headed.

He tilted his head and watched her carefully. She was more thrown with this than she was letting on, covering it well, but not covering it well enough from him. She couldn't really think that Stacy would be any kind of competition to her, could she? He limped a little closer to her and she glanced away from the cooking long enough to shoot him a questioning look.

"Are you worried?"

"I worry about a lot of things, can you be more specific?" She upended the jar of sauce over the pan and the scent of sweet chilli filled the room.

"About Stacy."

Her hand stilled momentarily mid-stir but she continued so quickly that he nearly missed the action. "She's…a big part of your life."

He frowned. "She _was_ a big part of my life and you've _always_ been a bigger part." He told her, a little annoyed that she'd think that way. "About to be a lot bigger." He smirked at her and earned a slap with the spatula for his trouble.

"Only you could be reassuring with an insult." She said, trying to look pissed but the smile tugging at her lips let him know she wasn't really. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. To prevent further beatings with kitchen utensils, he was sure.

"Everyone has special talents." He informed her and watched her swirling the stir fry for a moment. Nothing but the sizzling of the seared meat could be heard and he shut his eyes for the rare moment of compatible silence between them. It was kind of nice to come home to someone. To have someone to hold onto if you needed it. His grip tightened on her slightly, he didn't want to lose this.

"What else?"

He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled the scent of her shampoo. It always reminded him of candy for some reason, he liked it. "Hmm?"

"What else did Wilson say to rattle you?"

"Who says I'm rattled?" He tried bravado but she was having none of it.

"You've been quiet for almost two minutes and you're not drunk, stoned or asleep. What else is bothering you?" She asked absently as she added the noodles, dinner was looking better and better by the minute.

"The subject of…" God, _why_ couldn't he say it? "Weddings came up."

"Oh yeah, whose wedding?" She tossed the wok a little and House watched with vague interest as blue flames flared briefly.

House inhaled deeply and thought about how to say this…ah, screw it.

"Ours."

She went completely still. "Was that your version of a proposal?"

He stiffened behind her. "No! I mean, Wilson wanted to know if you planned on becoming a ball and chain in the future."

The heat under the wok was abruptly flickered of and she turned in his arms to frown up at him. "You want to get married?"

He fought the urge to squirm under this sudden scrutiny. "Not…really…I don't know."

She shrugged and turned back to the pan. "Well, if you don't know then you don't." She pulled two plates over and began to twist the noodles onto them. House could only stare at the back of her dark head in absolute amazement. Well, at least life with her would never be boring.

"Do you want to get married?" He asked the back of her head, he had to admit, conversations were easier this way.

"To you?" She tossed forks and spoons onto the plates and picked one up in each hand. Shimmying him out of the way her hip and preceding him out to the living room. Two beers were already set out, frosty with the cold and the DVD player screen saver bounced across the television screen. Ah, romantic dinner House and Cuddy style.

His brain caught up with her words and he frowned. "Yes, _to me_!" He limped after her as she set the plates down on the coffee table and tucked her legs under her to sit. "You got someone else in mind?"

"No, you just…I've never really thought about it."

"Oh, please! Never thought about marriage…!" He sat down angrily beside her and blinked as she took a sip of beer from the bottle. "Hey!" He snatched it from her. "No alcoholics in utero!"

She snatched the bottle back and pointed at the label. "Non-alcoholic beer!" She took another drink. "And it's only slightly nasty."

"You have definitely thought about marriage, you probably had your dress picked out when you were four." He sniped at her but not with any real venom and she just rolled her eyes as she pierced a bit of chicken with her fork and munched on the spiced meat.

"I was playing with my brother's cars when I was four and I can honestly say that I've never considered marriage with you."

He ate his dinner for a moment and then looked to her with a slightly wounded expression on his face. "Why the hell not?"

She blinked at him and pressed 'play' on the DVD remote. She shrugged as the theme of _Clear and Present Danger_ filtered out of the surround sound speakers. "You're not the marrying kind."

"How do you know that?" If there was one thing he couldn't stand to be, it was predictable.

"Greg, honey, you can't even say the word 'marriage' I think a proposal might just kill you." She smiled as she said it and reached out to smooth her fingers through his hair with absent affection before sidling closer to him and balancing her plate on her knees. He wrapped one arm around her almost without intending to and ate using his free hand.

"So, you're okay with us not being…wed?"

She smirked and licked some sauce from her fingers as she shot him a playful look. "I already own you. I don't need a contract with the state to tell me that."

House blinked at that, he hadn't thought of it on those terms. "What about the sprog?"

"He or she will have your name." Lisa answered absently and rested her head against his shoulder, half absorbed in the film and not paying too much attention to the intricacies of things that were at least seven months away.

"Hm." He said to that. "You're sure?"

"Greg," she rolled her head against his shoulder to look up at him. "I don't mind. You're with me, we're having a baby and I'm happy. Right now, the whole white dress gig sounds just like too much hassle. Now watch the film, it's Tom Clancy; you get explosions and gun fights and I get Harrison Ford. Be happy."

He inhaled deeply and ate his dinner and drank his beer like a good boy.

"If you insist." He answered her, needing to get in the last word. He should have known better.

A wicked grin stretched her lips.

"I do."


	22. Chapter 22

**Okay, kids, this is for Abbeyannmd who DEMANDED an update coz she was going into withdrawal. **

**Complete drabble, written in half an hour, you have been warned. I hadn't realised that it had been almost a month since I updated this one. **

**Oops. **

**Anyways, trying to update most of them before I go away on my holidays WITHOUT THE LAPTOP (WAIL). Don't know how I'm going to do without my fix of writing, I might even have to resort to paper and pen (shudder). **

**Uh, thassit, halfway through 'Thunderstorm Thursday' for the Seven Days of Smut saga that I've got going. This one is set just after eppie 3x15 'Halfwit' and is sort of a joiner onto that episode. **

**(aside) 'The Great Frog' is an actual jewellery shop just off Oxford street in London. **

**Anyway, read and review me, I demand instant gratification!**

**Chapter 22: Changes**

House stared in through the jewellers window and twisted his lips wryly at his faint reflection in the polished glass. He'd been working at Princeton-Plainsboro for the past eight years and (when he could be bothered) he went to the same deli down the street for his Reuben sandwich with no pickles and he walked back to the hospital along the same street and passed this jewellers every time.

Now though, he couldn't seem to go past without looking down at the pretty shiny rings on blue velvet cushiony type things for displaying jewellery. It was a tiny shop, _The Great Frog_, trimmed in black with silver curling writing over the door. If he were to push his way inside then an old brass bell would ring overhead. House was vaguely surprised upon hearing said same bell as he found himself pushing his way into the shop, opening the door with a slap of his cane and a jerk of his hip. Once inside the tiny one room shop House stood in the centre of the purple carpet and wondered what the hell to do with himself now.

Beads clacked in the doorway as they swished from one of those door curtain things and a small messy woman emerged from the back of the shop. Her hair hung down in a long purple fringe over one eye while tied haphazardly up at the back, a stained leather apron covered her front over black clothes and her feet clomped in battered Doc Martins as she sauntered over to him. "Can I help you?"

House blinked down at her, not having expected such a polite and erudite greeting from an emo grunge girl of the first order. He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm kinda just looking."

She blinked languidly at him and tilted her head to one side, her fringe slipped away to reveal a second eye that was a shocking golden colour in contrast with the slate grey of her other eye. House wondered briefly if they were contacts and decided against asking.

"How can you 'kinda' just look?"

House arched a brow at her. "I'm sure I'll manage." She hummed in the back of her throat and ducked her head out of her apron, slinging it casually up over a hook by the bead curtain.

"Is it for your girlfriend?" She asked softly and House shrugged in answer.

"It could be for me." He argued as he limped over to the nearest glass case and peered inside. All of the stuff in the shop was made by hand and of original design. Now two pieces were the same and that was something that appealed to House a little.

"Unlikely. You're not even wearing a watch." She informed him with a roll of her hand on her wrist and then sauntered along behind the counter to lean over and tap the glass. "The engagement rings are here."

House limped over, looking despite himself. "How did you know I was after one of these?"

"You're nervous." She said negligently as she perched on a stool and flipped open a magazine to scan the columns therin.

"I am not." House denied it and she just smiled slightly as she flipped the page of her magazine. "What's that one?" He pointed at a ring that sat prominently on a velvet black cushion. It was fairly simple, a platinum ring that was an incomplete circle, the space showing that the metal had a cross-section of a tiny love-heart ended in tiny heart shaped rose pink coloured diamonds.

"That's _Paloma's Tenderness Heart Ring." _Jeweller girl shrugged. "Expensive taste you have there."

"Hmm." Was all that House said as he looked down at the ring. "I don't even know if I want to ask her to marry me." He muttered, not intending to say it aloud. He had said to Cuddy as much…but he was beginning to think about changing his mind.

"But you're in here gazing longingly at eighteen hundred dollars worth of el expensivo but fabulous jewellery design. Yes, I can see clearly now that your intentions aren't honourable."

He looked up at her on a small glare. "Isn't the customer always right?"

"In their own deluded little worlds, I suppose so." She shrugged. "The jewellery sells itself, I could throw monkey crap at folks and they'd still fork over the green."

House smiled despite himself. He scrubbed his hand over his jaw and looked back to the ring. It was a nice ring, Cuddy would love it, it was simple and elegant and something that would fit with the rest of her. Something that could become part of her. Something that she might wear and never take off.

"I could keep it back for you." Jeweller girl offered and House looked at her.

"For how long?"

She tilted her head and shrugged. "I don't know, it's a high end piece that'll sell well, a day, maybe two. Big boss man would object if more than that."

"No, it's alright…" House turned away and headed for the door. Her voice stopped him just as he opened it.

"You know, it occurs to me, that if she's put up with you for this long then she isn't going to leave you."

He looked back to find her examining the polish on her nails as she spoke. She looked over to him with two tone eyes and smirked.

"Just a thought."

House turned back to her and the bell clanged again as the door shut.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cuddy stood eyeing herself in the full length mirror in her bedroom when he found her. He was standing just out of her line of sight as she twisted into profile and looked at her belly accusingly.

"Yep, that's definitely a huge ass." He drawled and a wide grin broke out over her lips as she turned to see him standing in the doorway. She looked fantastic. Denim cut off shorts revealing long tanned legs in cork soled sandals and a simple white tank top that fitted her like a second skin, her hair was tied back in a glossy tail that he was just itching to take hold of as he kissed her senseless.

"This ass has inspired legions of med-students I'll have you know." She told him primly as she sauntered over to him and looped her arms up around his neck.

"Hmm," his hands trailed down over her back that was mostly bare due to the cut of the tank top and slid over the denim of her shorts. "I can feel why." He told her on a smirk and pulled her closer still as he dropped a kiss on her lips. She kissed him back for a moment and then pulled away slightly, resting her hands against his chest. There was a streak of dirt on her cheek that attested to her having been out gardening. She smelled of the sun and the earth and coconut sun screen.

"I think I'm beginning to show."

He pulled back slightly, still keeping his one hand at her waist and smoothed the other over the silky white fabric of her top. Tugging it out of the denim and then slipping his fingers over the warmer silk of her belly. She shifted into the contact and he grinned slightly.

"Hate to break this to you, but pregnant women get fat." He told her bluntly and she slapped his shoulder in reproach.

"And the other half of pregnant women get thrown out of bed at ungodly hours of the night to go and gather offerings to the gods of cravings. So, just you watch it."

"I'm only getting out of bed if it's made worth my while." He informed her on a sniff of disdain and she chuckled as if anticipation of exactly how worth his while she could make it. Hormones were a beautiful thing.

"Got anything planned for tonight?" He asked her as he slid his hand a little higher up under her top. She wriggled closer to him and grinned.

"Mexican for dinner…followed by the hockey game on the sports channel and…that's as far as I got." Lisa was an avid sports fan, but none of this non-contact crap. She wanted her sports bordering on violent with the possibility of blood, guts and gore thank you very much. The only non-violent sport she liked was swimming and only the men's heats, but that was for an entirely different reason.

"Not baseball?" House almost pouted.

"The thinking man's game?" She shook her head on a grin. "Bored now." She mocked him and he growled low at her.

"It's a game of anticipation."

"I prefer instant gratification." She told him sweetly and he tilted his head at the invitation that he carved out of that sentence.

"Really?"

"Ah, no, I'm all sticky and sweaty." She tried to edge past him to the bathroom and he let her…then he followed her.

"I've had a hard day not working too, you know."

Her laugh echoed off the tiled walls as he grinned down at her and slapped the door shut with his cane.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Do we really need this?"

Lisa twisted to look over her shoulder at the solid clunk of wood hitting wood and protested sharply. "Hey, that's solid mahogany and yes, it is useful if I have a dinner party."

"When was the last time you had one of those?"

"Umm…"

"Exactly." He said triumphantly. He stared accusingly at the dining table. "Let's ditch it."

"Why?" She was barely paying attention as she fried the chicken in the spices. The tortillas were warming in the oven and the peppers sat in tin foil ready to serve. She loved the smell of the hot spices so thick in the steamy air of the kitchen that she could almost taste them.

"So my baby grand will fit in." He told her as he leant against the door frame and Lisa missed the pan with the spatula as she turned to stare at him.

"Huh?" They had been cohabiting for the main part. Rarely spending a night apart these days, but they were pretty much fluid on where they stayed. If he wanted to go back to his apartment then she went with him since they both had managed to bleed enough of each others belongings into each others space. This sounded like he wanted to move in. She told him as much.

He shrugged. "Well, most of the crap at my apartment I can take or leave but I'd like my piano here if I'm going to be staying." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and Lisa had a fleeting glimpse of a battered dog. Something that had been beaten and didn't quite belief that all the milkbones weren't coming without a downside. Some part of him was still expecting her to 'come to her senses' and kick him out on his ass. She shrugged and turned back to her chicken. "Okay, if you want to, I can get rid of it."

"Really?" She almost felt annoyed at the surprise in his tone. She wondered if he'd _ever_ believe that he wasn't getting rid of her that easily.

"Really." She gestured with her spatula. "Now put the chips in the bowl and get out the salsa, this is almost done."

"Yus mistress." He mocked her in a low growl and she swatted him as he went by. He retaliated by leaning over and biting her on the neck in a playful nip. She shrieked and danced away, grinning at him broadly and wondering how they'd ever settled for less than this. Sure, it wasn't perfect. They still fought about pretty much everything, but now the making up was so much better. He was still a misanthropic bastard but he was _her _misanthropic bastard. She was still a control freak and he still took delight in tormenting her for it. She tilted her head at him as she mixed the peppers in with the chicken and then sorted the tortillas.

"This is a big change for you."

He shrugged. "It's time." Was all he said and she smiled in a nonplussed fashion. She had no idea what time scale he was going on but she supposed she could live with it.

Because he would be living it with her.


	23. Chapter 23

**END CHAPTER**

**Um, written in one and not beta'd so beware the grammar mistakes!**

**Uh, leave comments on you way out. **

**Chapter 23: Quarter to Midnight Decisions**

It was a common misconception, amongst those that knew of Gregory House, that the man liked to brood. This was, by those who knew him, known to be patently untrue. House _hated_ to brood. Thinking was different. He spent around ninety percent of his time deep in thought or at least half-submerged in it. Brooding, however, was an exercise in the pointless looping of thoughts. Going round and round and round again surrounding the same sticking subject that was lodged in one's brain like an uncomfortable bur. House scraped his nails against the rough growth of his unshaven beard and stared unseeing down at the chart that lay open in front of him. He had retreated to the sanctuary of his office under the pretence of doing some paperwork. He was fully aware that his team were under no illusion that he was actually completing the aforementioned paperwork but had taken the silent order into their heads that he did not want to be disturbed and had prudently stayed on the other side of the glass doors.

What was it that plagued Gregory House?

It was a ring.

A small incomplete circle of platinum metal polished to a high sheen. With small heart-shaped glinting whenever he opened the velvet box in which it was ensconced. House's fingers drummed the pen against the chart as he continued to – well - brood. His scowl deepened as he thought it over once again. It was really simple and yet, the solution remained stubbornly out of his grasp. Possibly because he wasn't completely aware of what exactly the problem was.

The beating of the pen increased to astronomical proportions and House's frown increased with the rhythm.

This was stupid.

He was a freaking genius and he couldn't figure out the answer to one of life's simplest questions. He scowled at himself and threw the pen across the room in a sudden fit of temper. It pinged rather anticlimactically off the metal frame of one of the chairs and bounced away over the carpet. He scowled again for good measure.

House sat back in his chair and thought furiously deciding to try and be analytical about the whole thing. Lisa was his, he didn't share, had no inclination to let her go nor did he foresee a future where he might be so inclined, he wanted her, she wanted him, they…loved each other (he still had slight stumbling blocks with that but he was getting over it)…so where was the problem again?

House picked the ring out of the box and flipped it over and over between his two fingers. He rested it on his thumb and then flipped it up into the air like he might a quarter. Then it hit him. A quarter! House jammed the ring back in his pocket and fished around for the lesser used wallet. He yanked it open. No quarters. Goddamnit. It was a fairly simple concept. If the fates where with him then a quarter would solve his dilemma. He'd flip the coin; heads he'd marry her, tails he'd never ask and carry on as is. She'd be happy no matter what he was pretty sure…but she had said she didn't want the stresses of a full on marriage…well, that's what Vegas was for. Folks had been getting drunk and married for years there, he was pretty sure he could get her there without resorting to alcohol.

But first he needed to find that damn quarter.

He launched himself out of his seat and limped through to the briefing room. He threw open the door.

"Children! Give daddy some…pennies…" House trailed off as he realised mid-sentence he had sent his team off to do something inconvenient like treat a patient. He growled, there had to be someone in this damn hospital that had a coin. He nearly bounded out into the corridor and found it to be…completely empty.

What the hell was this? Where were all the sick people!?

Nary a janitor to be freaking seen!

House gritted his teeth, not to be outdone, and marched determinedly to the elevator. He jammed the button with his cane and was slightly mollified by the immediate arrival of a helpful metal box. He shuffled inside and attacked the buttons until the cart moved itself. His belly swooped, he hoped just because of the controlled fall that the elevator was undergoing. The doors pinged open to the hubbub of voices and whines that always accompanied the clinic and House nearly threw himself onto the nurse's station desk only to be regarded suspiciously by Brenda. The nurse narrowed her eyes at him.

"She's gone home for the night and you 'treated' your patients for all of five minutes out of three hours earlier." She held a clipboard to her chest as if preparing to slap him with it and he waved his hand to dismiss her.

"I need a quarter."

Brenda blinked. This she had not expected. Then she shook her head and made to turn away. "No can do, Dr Gimp, you can raid the vending machines on your own wallet."

House snarled and slapped his cane across the desk stopping her in her path. Several of the nearer nurses jumped but Brenda didn't even bat an eyelid.

"I just need to borrow a quarter. And what the hell could I get out of the vending machines for twenty five cents?!" He demanded incredulously.

Brenda rolled her eyes realising this was another 'House-ism' and she had better just go along with it. She pulled a shining silver coin out of her pocket. "I want insurance."

"Jesus Christ in a basket…" House trailed off to further muttered swearings and rummaged in his own pockets until he yanked a crinkled note out of his jeans back pocket. He handed it over in sharp order and snatched the quarter. "It's all I've got."

Brenda frowned as she unrumpled a twenty dollar note. Her eyebrows rose, the man must really want his quarter. "What do you need it for?" Brenda asked him, her curiosity well and truly piqued.

"I need a decision made." House muttered and flipped the coin expertly. He watched it whirl over his head. "Heads I ask, tails I leave it." He said to no one in particular and watched the coin spiral back down towards him. He held out his palm to catch it and then changed his mind at the last second, whipping his hand back and letting the quarter smack into the nurse's station, bounce three or four times and finally spin to a stop. Both Brenda and House leant forward to inspect what the god of quarters had left for them.

House swore again. "Gotta go."

By the time Brenda lifted her head, he was striding out of the doors and limping for the parking lot like he'd never limped before.

"Ask what?" She called after him. "Leave what?" Needless to say, Dr House was on a mission and didn't have time to be explaining it to anyone.

House stood in their bedroom doorway and tilted his head as he watched her sleep. She was curled up on her side, facing him, one hand buried in her dark hair pillowing her cheek and the other was looped over her own hip, her hand resting over her slightly swollen belly. His chest heaved, he was so excited that his skin clamoured with it. The muscles between his shoulder blades itched and twitched like they hadn't done since his lacrosse days and the only sound he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. Wait, he frowned, she was asleep. That wasn't in working with his grand plan. The tickets for the Red-eye flight to Vegas were burning a hole in his pocket and he could only stand there and watch her for a few moments. She was so peaceful, she always seemed more peaceful when he wasn't there. Maybe it would be better if he just forgot this whole…no. This was his decision, she didn't like peaceful anyway. She thrived on conflict. Conflict with him in particular. That was his story and he was damn well sticking to it.

He limped into the room and edged onto the bed beside her. She hummed sleepily when the shift of weight registered with her but otherwise made no move to wake. He reached out and smoothed a dark strand of hair away from her eyes. She turned her face into his touch and he bent to lay his lips against her temple in an unseen and denied if noticed display of affection.

"Lisa." He spoke softly but there was no disguising the urgency in his voice. "Lisa, wake up."

She mumbled a sleepy denial and tried to roll over and away from him. He caught her and dragged her back under the arch of his arms. He bent down further and buried his face in her hair, taking in the passion fruit shampoo smell of it and revelling in the creamy smoothness of the skin at her neck. He kissed her there. "Lisa, wake up, I need to talk to you."

"Mm…what?" She mumbled and sighed while wiggling a little further under him. "Your hearts hammering, what's wrong?" Concern nudged its way through the post sleep stupor and she struggled to come to full consciousness.

"Nothing." Well, that was half true. Nothing was wrong but he was still nervous as hell. "I want you to get up."

"Why?"

"We're going to the airport."

He sat back as she sat up, nodding as if she knew exactly what he was talking about. She was halfway into her skirt before she turned on him, eyes squinting against the lamp light he'd put on and shook her head in miscomprehension. "What? Why are we going to the airport?" She frowned at him. "Did you piss off the Mob again?"

"No." He said but didn't elaborate. He shoved a shirt at her and she huffed, pushing it away as it apparently didn't match the skirt she was wearing. She selected another and pulled that on instead.

"Greg. I'm not going anywhere with you until you explain."

House nodded, that was fair enough, he supposed. He shifted his weight and tried to think how to put this. He should probably phrase it gently. "We're going to Vegas."

"I am not going to a casino with you in the middle of the night." She snapped at him, she was always groggy and cranky after she'd just woken up. She was useless until she'd had her first cup of coffee and less than useless since her pregnancy had vetoed any form of caffeine.

"We won't be going to a casino." He put in brightly, ushering her towards the door. "I won't even place one bet." He assured her and pushed her into her coat. Not above taking advantage of her post-sleep fuzziness. If he did this right, they would be on the plane before she asked any truly probing questions and was awake enough to demand answers for them.

"Okay then, why are we going to Vegas?" If she'd been awake she would have gotten it by now. "The only reason people go to Vegas is to gamble or to get married and we're not getting…" Her grin slipped from her lips as she turned in the hallway and found him standing behind her with an expression on his face that she'd never seen before. He was holding a circlet of gleaming metal up to her and he swallowed hard as her eyes flew between it and him several times in quick succession.

"Oh." All the breath rushed from her lungs and she nearly staggered before catching herself. "You…I think I'm going to pass out. Why do you have a ring?"

"Well…" He stepped closer to her and took her left hand in his. "I'm not going to be gambling with it, if that's what you're worrying about." He pushed the ring over her skin. It was cool and snug around her ring finger. It fit perfectly and he still had that same expression on his face as he watched how she'd react to this midnight proposal. She had to decide quickly if they were going to make their flight.

"You're worried."

"Huh?" He frowned at her. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"That expression on your face. I'd never seen it before, it took me a moment to figure out what it was. You're worried that I'll say no."

House raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you saying no?"

She blinked rapidly and seemed to try and wake herself completely for this conversation. It seemed important. She supposed she should be fully cognisant for it. "Well, you haven't asked me anything yet."

"I asked if you wanted to go to the airport." He defended himself and quickly backtracked when she glared at him. "Marry me? Now? Tonight?"

"You didn't answer my question; why are you worried?"

"I asked first."

"No you didn't."

House's expression gained a mulish look. His hand tightened over hers, causing her ring to press harder against her skin. "I keep waiting to wake up. I keep waiting for you to…find someone better than me. You're mine, I'm going to keep you. This way it's all legal and I get half your DVDs if you want rid of me." He said on a mock sniff to try and brush it off but she just smiled at him, reaching up and tangling her fingers in his hair before kissing him softly on the lips.

"You're so dumb sometimes, you know that?"

"I'm beginning to feel that way, yes."

"I'm not looking for anyone else. I don't want to. I'm keeping _you_." She kissed him again. "Yes, I'll marry you and no you can't have half my DVDs."

"Good." He kissed her, long and hard for a moment and then forced himself away. His plan still wasn't finished. He still had a chapel to find and a wedding to get through. He grinned down at her as he hustled her out of the door. She made a mild protest about clothes and the like but he promised to buy her everything when they got there. It had to be tonight.

The door to the hotel suite clattered open and Lisa laughed as her husband stumbled against her in his eagerness to get to the bed. Her hands smoothed over his chest, over the tuxedo shirt that he had bought to wear to their wedding. She still couldn't believe he had done that. They had stopped off to make reservations at the Luxor hotel for their 'Honeymoon Suite' and he had seen the dress she was now wearing in the window of a store. Proclaiming it perfect for the occasion he had bought it for her and insisted she try it on then and there. The tux had closely followed. She couldn't even remember what colour the dress was. It didn't matter anyway, his hands were on the zip and it was sliding over her skin to pool on the plush carpeted floor of the suite. His black jacket closely followed it and his bow tie. Buttons popped as her hand forced its way inside the neck of his shirt and yanked down to bare his tanned warm skin to her.

She gave a giddy kind of laugh and pulled away from him slightly to see what she had seen a hundred times before but never wanted to stop seeing. She bit her lip in a kind of reverence while she skimmed her hands over him. He took the opportunity to unsnap the clasp of her bra and pull it from her. He pushed her back gently until the back of her knees hit the mattress of the ten foot across bed. She laughed out loud as she fell back onto it he came down on top of her like a living, sensual, blanket and purred against her throat, nipping her with his teeth.

She yanked at his shirt and had it off without ripping it too badly. Fortunately too as they were the only clothes they now had, having trashed the flight rumpled ones in the store. She laughed again at the sheer mad abandonment of the moment. Of the night and the life she had chosen with him.

"Something funny?" He growled in her ear and his voice alone had the power to make her shiver.

"No, yes, I was just thinking that this is totally insane. Only you could have convinced me to get married in Vegas at a moment's notice."

"Glad to hear it." He muttered, busy sliding her panties down the length of her legs and tossing them away. He crawled back up her body like a tiger after a free dinner and kissed her hard and fast so that her head was spinning again. Her back arched against the black satin and cream Egyptian cotton sheets. The place was hopelessly tacky, much like the rest of Vegas, but she kind of liked it that way.

"Greg, you're clothes are in the way." She moaned in frustration when her soft skin encountered the barrier of his slacks between them.

"They're inconvenient that way." He agreed and gasped when her hands unsnapped his trousers and slid inside to see just how ready he was for their wedding night. He growled and bit her ear. Her fingers slid over the red hot length of him and his back arched when she rolled her thumb over the head of his cock. "Bad, bad woman. I want this to last." His lips trailed down her neck, over the curve of her breast. She whimpered and twisted under him, pushing his pants and shorts down. He kicked off his shoes and worked his way out of his clothes so they were skin to skin.

"We've got all night." She gasped as his hands slid over her breasts and then down over her belly. "And then some." Her fingers tangled in his hair and pulled his mouth down against hers. The kiss was hot. Hot and languid, the slow burn of hormones flared between them again, built higher and higher. Fire licked at them from the inside, jumped between them, clashed together and mixed into an explosive combination. As it always did and as it always would. They couldn't breathe with it, they didn't want to breathe without it.

Her legs slid around him, pulling him closer, flush against her heat. She couldn't wait for him. Her breathing was harsh and seemed impossibly loud, little gasping moans just for him when his head dipped and his tongue wrapped around her nipple. Her heart skipped several beats when his teeth scraped her and her hair splashed wildly as she tossed her head back in abandonment.

"Greg! Oh God, Greg, I want you now." Her nails scraped him, her teeth nipped him and she rained kisses on his throat and chest.

He grinned at her, loving how only he could drive her this wild. This needy. He clasped her hands in his and pinned them gently above her head. He met her eyes as he pushed inside her. Sliding hot flesh against hers, ever second drawn out on a tantalising vibration of pleasure. She was gasping and twisting under him, his name tumbling from her lips and her eyes heavy lidded with pleasure.

"Don't stop." She told him.

He shook his head and held her gaze. "Never." He met her lips in another fiery kiss and made love to his wife.

It was later, much later, when Gregory House looked up at the hotel ceiling and the lazily spinning fan overhead that he realised what he had done. His thumb stroked small circles on the silky skin of his wife's shoulder and that single word _wife_ brought a smile to his lips. He watched the fan spin round and around and round again. He thought about the choice he'd made, about the future ahead of them both, about the child they were going to have together.

A stab of nerves lanced him low in his belly so suddenly that he shifted uncomfortably with it. Lisa shifted with him, a small sigh hushing through the silence of the room and he smiled when her hand slid around him a little tighter, holding him a little closer. He thought back, to the vacation that had started it all and he wondered briefly if he might ever forgive Wilson for sending them away together. Perhaps his friend had suffered enough for it.

House smiled at that…nah. Let him suffer a while more.

She moaned in her sleep and rubbed her hand over his heartbeat by her cheek. He caught the glint of the Vegas lasers and neon off the rings on her third finger. The platinum and rose diamonds of her engagement ring and the simple white gold of her wedding band. He liked the way they looked against her skin. In a few months there would be a white band of skin on her finger. In a couple of years they'd be so worn on that she wouldn't be able to take them off without difficulty. Those thoughts made him smile. It was just another way for him to make a mark on her life.

He thought of something else that had been round and silver. That damn quarter. He scowled. Heads he'd ask and tails he'd leave it. Well damn it all to hell if that stupid quarter hadn't landed on tails.

Stupid quarter. He'd made his decision and he was damn well keeping her no matter what.

**A/N: Hey-hey kiddie winks!**

**That's another fic drawn to a close…just about. It's actually past time I finished this one. I don't know why I kept it going so long as I did. I suppose I just suck at endings. I'm toying with the idea of doing an epilogue but I'm not sure if I will. **

**I have no clue where to go with 'The Inspirationals' seriously, y'all love it but I dinnae ken what to do with it at all. I'm open to suggestions. If you want it to go a certain way then lemme know because if not I'm just gonna leave it. Not delete it, because the potential's there but I'm not gonna post crap for it. **

**So, if you have any ideas give me a review or email me or whatever. I'd be glad to hear from y'all. **

**Anyways, this has been a fun fic to write. I enjoyed it for whatever that's worth. Thanks for all the reviews and junk and just putting up with my eternal weirdness. **

**Look out for future stuff from moi!**

**Ciao, Scribe. **


End file.
